Was It Really Destiny?
by Starzanna
Summary: What happened those few weeks after Cajan spice? What helped during the run up to Apocalypse? How do things turn out after the supposed ‘end of the world’?
1. Two weeks after

"Rogue? Come on Rogue, you have to get up and go to school today."

She rolled over in her bed, pulling the covers up to her head, blatantly ignoring the weather witched words.

"You cant stay in your room for the rest of your life you know", she paused to wait for a reply, she got none. "It's been 2 weeks already, you have to get up today, its not healthy for you child."

It had been 2 weeks she thought to herself, but she still didn't feel ready to go out again. How could she trust that it wouldn't happen again? How did she know that on her way to school she wouldn't get kidnapped and used again? How did she know that that swamp rat wouldn't be waiting for her again?

"Fine, you give me no choice" suddenly a rush of cold swept through Rogues body as Storm unleashed a cloud full of water over her bed. Screaming, Rogue shot out of bed faster than you could say rain.

"Fahn! Ahm up! Ahm up! Ah'll go at school!" she cried as she drained the water from her hair out onto her carpet.

Storm smiled at the girl as she smoothly turned to leave the room, "Breakfast will be waiting downstairs for you, you better hurry if you don't want to be late"

Rogue collapsed on her bed once again. She didn't want to go to school today, just like she didn't want to go to school the last two weeks. Lately she had been so depressed, but they weren't her emotions flooding through. You see two weeks ago she had been kidnapped on her way to school by the Acolyte known as Gambit. Whilst on his mission to save his father, rogue had accidentally absorbed his memories. At the time it wasn't so bad, she knew what she need at the time to help him save his father, but once she had returned home she began to have nightmares about his life in new Orleans. She new so much about him now that all she wanted to do was see him and tell him that she understood everything, and knows why he did what he did, but she was scared.

She walked over to her dresser and opened up the top draw, she pulled out a dark green box that held something special. It was the card that Gambit had given her, the queen of hearts. She remembered one of the dreams she had the other night. It was of gambits wedding. She saw how the girl at the alter had broken his heart as she left him, leaving this particular card behind in his hands. He looked at it struggling to hold back the tears, she could feel his heart breaking. What she couldn't understand was, why had he given the card to her?

Quickly she put the card back and headed into the shower. If she was going make it to school on time she would have to hurry.

* * *

He stood outside the mansion, watching her leave hurriedly for school. Slowly he took the cigarette from his mouth and threw it on the floor, careful to stub it out with his boot as he walked towards the entrance of the luxury building.

For 2 weeks he hadn't been able to stop thinking of her. He knew it would be hard, but somehow he had to get close to her, he wanted to know everything about her. This wasn't like his other girlfriends, this time it wasn't going to be a game. He had only ever felt like this once before…

He shrugged away that thought immediately.

"Môn dieu" he muttered to himself. What was he about to get himself into?

Slowly he walked up the steps to the large oak door. Taking in a deep breath he rang the bell and waited to be acknowledged.

Slowly, after waiting for a short period of time, the door opened. He was greeted but a tall, beautiful, dark skinned woman.

"Gambit?" she exclaimed suddenly. In one quick action he was greeted by a second being, as well as 3 sharp claws.

"bonjour mes amis" he said, trying to flash his charming smile but failed at the sight or Logans blades moving down his torso.

"what d'ya want bub?" growled Logan. He could smell the booze and smoke off him, he didn't trust him at all.

"Remy jus wan t'see the proff, he hope dat mebe he woul let dis poor ol cunjan join de x men?"

The two current x men eyed the enemy carefully. Can he be trusted?

"of course, ill take you to him right away, everyone is welcome here" she looked at Logan, giving him a signal to back down. Logan drew back he claws and walked off towards the garage mumbling to himself.

"tanks fo dat stormy, Remy be truly grateful" he said, now able to flash her his winning grin.

She laughed and turned around to walk up the stairs. "right this way Remy" she called, "and don't think ill let you get away with the 'stormy' remark." she added with a serious but friendly tone.

Remy just carried on grinning.

Outside the professors office Remy leant forward to knock.

come in Gambit came a voice in Remy's head. Confused he opened the door and walked inside.

"Ah Gambit, how can I help?"


	2. Meeting again

She hated school. It was a waste of time for her and all she wanted to do was come home and crawl into bed. At least now she had the opportunity to do it. Kitty was never around anymore now that she was going out with Lance. This was good for Rogue as it meant that she could have some peace and quiet for once.

She walked into the mansion slamming the door behind her. This had become a regular sign to the rest of the house mates that she was home and in a bad mood.

As she climbed the stairs to her room she quickened her pace. She couldn't deal with Scott coming out to tell her that she need to have some more danger room sessions since she hadn't had any lately. She reached her bedroom door and flung it open. She saw her bed and was happy to be able to have some alone time. She slammed the door behind her again to let everyone in the neighbouring bedrooms know not to interrupt her.

"Fahnaly" she sighed as she collapsed onto her bed, curling up to her pillow. She couldn't sleep right then. There was a nagging in the back of her mind to get the card Gambit had given to her. Following her thoughts she once again walked over to her dresser and retrieved the card. Slowly she walked back over to her bed and placed the card under her pillow. Once again she curled up under her sheets and fell asleep straight away.

* * *

He watched as she slammed the door of her bedroom behind her and fall onto her bed. He had know she was beautiful, he couldn't get her face out of his mind, but now that he was looking straight at it again he realised she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

Remy was standing on her balcony watching her as she came home from school. All day he had been working out how he was going speak to her, what he was going to say, but now he had seen her he grew nervous. All he needed to know was, did she still have the card?

As he thought this Rogue got up from her bed. Slowly she walked over to her dresser and pulled it out. Then he watched as she took it over to her bed and fell asleep with it.

Remy suddenly became very aware of where he was. Slowly and stealthily he moved over to the balcony door of Rogues bedroom and silently picked the lock. He moved across the bedroom to where the sleeping Rogue lay on her bed. Carefully he pulled out the card from behind he pillow. Taking a pen out of her bedside table drawer he scribbled something on the back of the card. Returning the card under the pillow he moved to replace the pen when he noticed what was also in the drawer. There sitting plain as day was a book labelled 'Rogues Diary'. It was something he couldn't resist.

Pocketing the diary Remy decided to leave. Taking one last glance at his sleeping beauty, he turned around to leave the way he entered.

"au revoir Môn cher" he whispered quietly as he left to return to his own balcony not so far away.

A few hours later Remy had begun to get bored. He had finished moving his room about and putting away his belongings. It didn't take long as he didn't have many. Being older than the others had meant that he could have his own room and not share with others. At least this is what the proff had said, but Remy figured it was because non of the other team mates would want to share with an ex -acolyte. He sighed to himself.

He decided it was time to take a look around. Stepping out of his room he turned to lock the door, he didn't want anyone going through his things, not that he had anything valuable. As he was doing this he saw a bright beam of red light. Noticing it in advance gave him a chance to jump out of the way as the red beam hit his door, burning a great hole right through it.

"Wha d'ya tink y'are doing homme?" he cried as he jumped up to see Scott getting ready to fire another beam at him.

"Thought you would sneak into our home and steal things from us did you?" he shouted shooting another beam towards Remy, who jumped again to dodge it loosing the bottom of his trench coat in the process.

"Mon Ami!" he cried, "y' got dis all wrong, Remy ain tryin t' steal nothing!" he cried dodging yet another beam and loosing even more of his coat in the process.

Quickly he grabbed a vase that was standing in the hall and charged it. Throwing it in the air it smashed into pieces showering Scott in shards of china. As Scott ducked to protect himself Remy lunged towards him pushing him up against the wall, and swiping away his glasses.

Just as he was about to explain himself he felt something on the back of his neck. Suddenly everything went black.

* * *

Rogue had been awakened rudely by a loud crash not to far away from her bedroom. As she went out to investigate she saw Scott fighting with someone. It was him.

She couldn't believe it. After all that happened and all this time he had returned. Was he trying to find her? Her mind raced as she saw Scott shooting at him, then it was his turn. She saw him pick up the vase and charge it, as he was about to let go she knew she had to do something. Then as he had Scott up against the wall she took off her glove and touched the back of his neck knocking him out.

She knew it was a bad idea as soon as she did it. Just as she was falling to the ground she had a moment of de ja vu with all his memories pouring back into her mind. All the hatred and hurt ran through her again. Just before she passed out she looked at Scott who had found his glasses and ran over to her. She stared at him with red on black eyes before everything went black.


	3. Its Official

Rogue awoke half an hour later in the med bay. As she sat up she felt a rush of pain run through her head. She grabbed her forehead and buckled over on the mattress where she lie. A few seconds later the pain evaporated and she was able to open her eyes.

Looking across the room she saw him. Untangling herself from the white sheets, she climbed out of her temporary bed and walking over to the body. She noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses. She had never really seen him without them, only when he had charmed her that time during a fight and gave her a charged card.

A wave of anger swept across her as she thought of this. She looked down to see that he also had no shirt on. Running her eyes across his naked torso she noticed a long scar running just across his rib cage. Searching through his memories in her mind she pulled one out in particular. It was just after his wedding, the one that never really happened. There was a fight between him and another man. It was a fresh memory for her, one that she only received today after absorbing him.

She could see them both fighting outside the church, everyone else standing around and watching. Gambit was trying to stop the other guy from attacking him, shouting things at him that she couldn't quite understand. It was in French. Next thing she saw was the other man draw a sword. She could feel the fear that gambit felt at that moment in time. He tried to stop the blade as the man lunged towards him, plunging the blade into Gambits chest.

The fear, the anger, the pain. It was all to much for Rogue and she collapsed once again on the floor seeing nothing but black.

* * *

He heard a thud on the floor. Opening his eyes he saw Rogue unconscious on the floor next to his bed. Slowly he got up and wrapped both of his arms around her, lifting her off the floor he placed her back on her bed.

"once again y' end up in Remy's arms eh cher" he sighed as he placed her gently on her bed.

Quickly he dressed and got ready to leave, looking over to the chair where his clothes sat he looked at the remains of his trench coat.

"merde, an dat was Remy's favourite one" he cursed, picking it up and walking out of the door.

He could feel something heavy in the coat and looked in one of the pockets, pulling out Rogues diary.

"Remy forgot bout dis" he chuckled to himself, walking down the corridor to find his room. His evening just looked a little brighter.

* * *

"Like Rogue! GET UP!" Kitty had heard everything that had happened that day and had gone straight to her room mate for all the gossip.

Rogue sat up in her bed. She had been awake for a while and was enjoying her time alone. Looking across to her room mate she realised how much she had actually missed her. Now that Kitty had been seeing Lance all the time Rogue didn't really have anyone to talk to, even if it was pointless girly talk, Rogue still enjoyed her company most of the time.

"So com'on! Tell me everything!" she squealed over excitedly.

"There's nothing at tell really, Ah woke up, saw Gambit an Scott fightin in tha hall an knocked him out. Thas it." she shrugged and turned to get out of her bed.

As much as she missed her room mate, she really didn't feel up to talking about what happened earlier on in the day.

Kitty sighed, she could tell that Rogue didn't feel up to talking right then. Even though she wanted to know everything about the tall dark and handsome guy she was willing to wait a while till she got it out of her. "Alright Rogue, I like get that you don't wanna talk to me" she sighed again hoping it would make Rogue feel bad. She looked up but saw no change in her friends face. It would just have to wait until later.

* * *

Evening came quickly that day, and all the team were in the professors office.

"now I have called you all in here for a reason. Im sure many of you may already know that there is a new member to our team, but for those of you who did not know I would like to introduce you all to Remy Le'Beau." He looked over to the far corner of his office where he was sitting. There where a few gasps and a couple of giggles from some of the younger girls. "He is now officially one of the team" he added with a smile.

Remy sat there on his chair, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. He looked up and gave the rest of the room a slanted cocky grin, focusing particularly on Scott, who, before this meeting, had been disciplined by the professor because of his behaviour towards a new team mate.

Suddenly the door to the office swung open.

"KURT" came a strong southern voice from the other side.

Kurt swung round to see Rogue standing at the door with her trade mark 'angry face'. earlier that day, Kurt had decided that it would be funny to steal her make up. Now he was regretting the idea.

"uh oh, gotta go!" he said hurriedly, followed by a loud BAMF as he disappeared from the room.

People stood in the room deciding who to look at between Remy and Rogue. The boys chose to look and laugh at the girl with no make up, the girls chose to look at the guy with amazingly handsome features.

Remy and Rogue couldn't take their eyes off each other.


	4. Feelings

Rogue stood there dazed. Confusion ran through her, even though there was nothing for her to be confused about. She had absorbed him. She knew exactly how he felt about her, she knew he had been watching her over the last two weeks, she knew he was joining the x men for her. She knew everything he was willing to give up just for her, but still she didn't want to believe it. She was the untouchable one. There was no point in him giving everything up for someone who he couldn't touch, someone he would never really be able to have the way he wanted. She wouldn't let him.

Quickly turning she stormed away from the office where everyone stood. She would show him. She's not the person he thinks she is. She wasn't going to give him a way into her life. She was going to push him away as far as she could. She knew what he was thinking, so she knew how to get rid of him.

'_Crap_!' she stopped dead in the middle of her thoughts. '_The creep has my diary'_ and she knew exactly where he had hidden it. Running up the stairs and through many corridors she came to a door that looked like every other door along the wall. Carefully she opened it. Looking in it was plain and simple. The smell however was the affirmative that it belonged to him. Cigarettes and cologne. She hated to admit it but it had an effect on her.

No. she had to stay focused. He wasn't going to get close.

Quietly rummaging through the trench coat, or what was left of it, she found her little book deep in the pocket. Happy that she had accomplished her mission she slyly walked out of the door and back to her room.

Throwing her diary back into her draw she slowly undressed and climbed into her shower. It had been a long day, a very long and tiring day. As she slowly turned off the water that poured on her soft skin, she tightly scrunched her hair to release that left over water that threatened to fall. As she wrapped a towel around her body she looked at her pale skin in the mirror. She always felt vulnerable when her skin wasn't protected. She enjoyed moments like this when she didn't feel she was trapped behind a mask to keep her safe.

She couldn't help but think about Remy. He was handsome beyond belief. His hair fell perfectly to frame his face, but at the same time doesn't look like he spends ages in the morning getting it to look that way. His face so perfectly chiselled with perfect and lushes lips. And his eyes. She loved his eyes more than anything else about him. The red on black that would burn into her skin when he looked at her. The eyes that would make her go weak at the knees whenever she looked into them.

She had to learn to be strong. If she was going to keep up her face and get him out of her life then she would have to control her emotions. If she fell for him anymore she would only end up letting him get close. She would only end up letting him hurt her.

* * *

Remy watched as she ran away from the office where they all sat. This was it. Now was the time to tell her. He stood up, bowed to the people in the large room as a sign of goodbye and followed her to her room.

He had to tell her how he felt, that he had been watching her for the last two weeks after their little adventure in New Orleans. He wanted to know that he would do anything for her, protect her anyway he could. He didn't care that he could touch her, he would surely find away around it, he was Remy Le'Beau, he loved a challenge.

'_MERDE_!' he stopped dead in his thought. '_de Femme absorbed me. Surely now she know' how Remy feels. She must know why Remy is here_!'

This was going to be a lot more difficult than Remy predicted. However, it could work in his favour. At least now she will know that he is telling the truth and not just trying to get her into bed.

Slowly a grin formed on his handsome face as he quickly proceeded to her bedroom.

Soon he reached a door in the middle of the corridor. It looked just like all of the other doors along the wall. Slowly he knock on the wood.

"Cher? Yo' be in dere?" she slowly opened the door only to find it empty. She walked into the room that he had become familiar with over the past few weeks. He looked across into the bathroom only to find it also empty.

Rogue was not there, and he didn't want to be found there when she got back. He didn't want her to be in a bad mood when he confessed his feelings for her. As he approach the door to leave he heard hurried footsteps coming towards the door. It was her.

"Merde" he cursed under his breath. Stealthily he jumped across the room and hid behind the thick curtain hoping that she wouldn't find him.

He watched her as she walked towards him in his hiding spot. She stopped at her bedside drawer and placed a small book inside.

"looks lik' de Femme bin going through Remy's stuff as well hen?" he stifled a laugh as she walked into the shower. He waited till he could here the water running before he came out of his hiding spot. Once again he crept over to the small drawer where she had just stood, retrieving the book he has skilfully stolen the night before.

"Remy not be done wit' dis yet mon cher" he said as he placed it securely into the back pocket of his jeans. Remy took the time to look at more things in the vanilla scented room. This was the first time he had seen it slight day light. All other times had been in the dark when she was sleeping. He noticed a picture that sat on her dresser. It was of her and wolverine standing close, both with big grins on their faces.

"Well, Looks like ol' wolvie has a soft spot aft' all" he chuckled to himself. Next he turned to the picture on the other side of the dresser. This one was of her, Kitty and Kurt. Again they all had big grins on their faces, they were standing in front of a fairground.

For someone who could get close to anyone, she sure looked like she was close to these guys, Remy thought as he put the picture back down.

He heard the water from the shower stop. He peered through a gap in the door just as she had wrapped a towel around her body. He watched her stared at herself in the mirror. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her skin looked to soft and pure, it was hard for Remy to believe that it was as dangerous as it was. He sighed quietly and took off to leave. He would come back tomorrow to tell her how he felt.


	5. Dear Diary,

_Dear Diary,_

_Wow this feels weird. Things have been going so well for me lately! I thought it would be a good idea to write it down so I would never forget about it. Cody came over, asked me if I wanted to go out on a walk with him. Iv know Cody for so long, but lately I feel its more than just a friendship. All the other girls at school are getting boyfriends, I wonder if he would ever be mine…. I do care for him a lot. He has the most beautiful eyes. So deep and blue. I could get lost in them for ever! Ok iv decided when I see him tomorrow im going to tell him everything iv just confessed._

_Dear Diary,_

_Oh My Gawd!!_

_I told him. I told you I would do it. I told him how I felt and he said that he felt the same. I couldn't believe it. Im so happy diary I don't things could get any better in my life right now. It was so amazing! He told me he wanted us to be more than friends, then he asked me out! Of course I said YES, why wouldn't I!? it was so unbelievable, he took my hand and we walked for ages! When we got into town people where looking at us and pointed out to their friends! I was the centre of everyone's attention! I'm going out with the most gorgeous guy at school! ME! I feel so happy. Nothing can ruin this! Nothing in the world!_

_Dear Diary,_

_So tonight is the night of the Dance. Im so excited! I bought a new dress and shoes to match. They're dark green with sparkly bits at the bottom. Its so pretty. Cody is coming to pick me up soon to take me! Did I mention how excited I am about this? Everyone at school was asking me about me and Cody. Some of the girls were really jealous, I could see them staring. I didn't care, I was loving it! I love being the centre of attention! Cody would hold my hand any time we were together. It just feels so perfect us being together! Im so happy. Anyway im going to go dance the night away with my man!_

_Dear Diary,_

_I've been on the run now for quite a while. A few weeks maybe. It seems so stupid writing in this book now. But I feel it's the only way to let it all out. I have nothing left Diary. Nothing. Remember a few weeks ago when I told you I was going to the dance? Well I never got to go in the end. Cody came to pick me up as planned. We got to the school and we were so happy. But then it all went wrong. He kissed me. Something so small, so wonderful turned out to be the one thing the has ruined my life forever. I was so scared! I don't know what's happened to me. people were looking at me in the street. I didn't know what to do so I ran. I ran as far as I could away fro there. What's happened to me diary. Why has god done this to me? I don't deserve it. I don't want to be a freak diary. I don't want to be alone. I sucked the life out of him. His one single touch and I felt his energy run through me. I tried to push him away but I couldn't. I don't know what happened. After a while everything just went black. When I woke up, he was just lying there in the middle of the street. He looked dead, and I would have believed so if it hadn't of been for the small rise and fall of his chest. Someone from behind was shouting, it was hard to hear but as he ran closer I could make out his cold words. He was calling me a freak. Shouting it so everyone could hear. They all pointed at me with shocked expressions. I was so scared, I couldn't even run back to Irene, I was too ashamed. A week or so ago I decided that I was going to end it. I'm going crazy in my mind. I'm hearing voices, thinking things that I would never think before. All the time I can just hear Cody's voice shouting. I thought if I ended it then no one would have to suffer. I wouldn't hurt anyone else and I wouldn't have the shame of being a mutant hanging over my head. I was all ready. Had the blade at my wrist ready. It was what I had to do until she appeared. A lady dressed in dark clothes came out of nowhere. She had black sunglasses on so I couldn't see her face either. She t old me that I wasn't alone. She said that I needed to be alive to fulfil my destiny and save the world. At first I was thinking that it was my mind playing stupid tricks on me but there was something about her. I wanted to believe her, and I did. She moved the blade away from me. I flinched as she touched me, but nothing happened. She had gloves on. Then when I looked up at her she had vanished. I don't know who she was or why she thinks I need to believe alive. I didn't know what to do. My mind was going crazy, I am now crazy. I just ran. It was the only thing I knew to do. For a week I have been running since that night. Iv decided that from now on its just me. I cant trust anyone. Ill never know if they are real or not. From now on its just me and you diary. I don't even know if you are real anymore but it doesn't matter. Your just paper._

_Dear diary,_

_Today was such a blur. So many things happened. I met new people who are like me. They took me in and have given me a place to stay. I also met some other people. Called the x men? Mutant hunters apparently. I don't know. Im so confused. At some points they seemed like I could trust them, other I felt like they wanted to kill me. I had so much power today. Whilst on the run these "x men" came for me, I touch two of them gaining their powers. I could teleport and control the weather. I cant remember much about it though. I do have something left from them though. Some sort of communicator that one of them gave to me. I don't know what to do with it. But for now im going to keep it hidden. Oh and the voices in my head, they've gone. Im starting to feel a little less crazy right now. But there's still so much I need to understand about myself. I think the people I have met might be able to help me out with that._

_Dear Diary,_

_Got to know the x men today. I got paired with one of them in drama. They don't seem as bad as I first thought. Im starting to wonder if my powers made my mind think stupid things. Oh and looks like im not the only new kid at the school. Fred Dukes is also new. Looks like he's a "mutant" as well. He kidnapped one of the x men, Jean. Looked like they really look out for each other. But I still don't know if I can trust them. I helped them today, but… I still don't know._

_Dear Diary,_

_Well today sure was a turn of events. Lets just say that after a rather interesting field trip, the x men and I finally came to an understanding. Im still pissed that they used me in their training simulation… but I think I understand, kind of. That Scott sure seems nice though. Cute as well. To bad he seems to have a thing for that stuck up red head. But he must like me, surly after today, I mean I saved his life! Ha funny that aint it. Oh well, im going to go scope out my new home… for now._

_Dear Diary,_

_The past week has been so hectic. I just want to make a small reminder don't absorb Sabretooth! Its taken me ages to shave my legs back to their original smoothness._

_Anyway. So, I've been having these dreams recently. Well not dreams, nightmares. When I told the others we worked out that they are memories, mystiques memories. I don't know if she's just messing with his head or what but she told him she was his mother. Lets hope that what ever the truth is, it turns out ok for the elf. I kind of like him. He's a good friend._

"Môn dieu" Remy sighed as he shifted on his bed. "de femme has bin through a lot non? An dis only be de beginning." he looked over to his bedside table. 00:14 flashed on the clock. He decided that he should finish there for the night and return to his new book the next day.


	6. Dreaming

Remy woke the next morning to a strange feeling in his gut. Deciding that it must be hunger, he pulled on a pair of tight fitting pants and left his room, heading towards the kitchen. His entrance was noted as soon as he heard a few gasps and giggles. Looking around the room he saw a few of the younger female students looking at him and going pink. At the back of the room stood Scott, giving his disapproving glare at Remy coming down half naked. But Remy new it was just jealousy, jealous that Jean was also looking over, a slight tinge of pinkness growing in her face as well.

"bonjour mes amis" he casually said as he walked over to the counter near the toaster. He was happy with the attention he was getting from the female students, but he wished there was a certain someone else in the room.

After a few moments of slowly making his breakfast, he turned to leave the kitchen. Giving one last wink and a bow to the group of gawping girls, he left.

'_mebe she be trainin' wit de wolverine?' _he thought to himself. Just after the thought slipped away from his mind he heard a door open. It was the door to the professors office, and she was walking out of it. He smiled.

"Bonjour Chere." he said with his trade mark 'cocky' grin, hoping to get a reaction out of her from his shirtless-ness. But instead she just walked straight passed him. She didn't even look up at him, just stared at the floor as she walked in the direction he just came from. He pondered the idea of following her, just to make sure she was ok, and maybe tell her what he wanted to yesterday. Instead he thought not to. Instead he went into the professors office.

"Bonjour Professor, quel est wrong with Rogue?"

"Ah good morning Remy, I hope you are settling in well here at the institute?"

"oui professor. But Remy woul' like t' know what is wrong wit' his chere?"

"Rogue has, lets say, a lot on her mind right now. She is dealing with a lot, as well as her own troubles. However I cannot discuss these with you Remy. It is up to her to tell you or not."

"Oui professor." he turned to leave the office.

"But Remy. I will say she is always in need for someone to talk to. Particularly a close friend…"

Remy nodded as he left the room closing the door behind him. He wasn't going to go find out what was wrong with her right now. He would leave it a while and catch up with her later. Meanwhile he a some reading to do.

* * *

'_im so cold, so hungry'_

_A small boy is standing in the middle of a busy market square. People rushing past him, knocking him off his feat, but hey don't care about him. No one stops to help him up. Quickly he moves into an ally. The harsh wind cant get him fro there and neither can the people. He stands and watches all the other children running about. Small boys holding their mothers hands. Mothers who love their sons so much that they don't want to loose them in the market rush._

_Pain, heartache, sadness. _

_This boy was not loved by his mother. Now he is left on the streets to look after himself. 5 years old. Its impossible. He is so hungry now. People wont give him food anymore, they grow tired of his begging. Now he has to steel for his life._

_He sees a man. Tall, long hair, smart clothes. In his pocket he sees a wallet. The boy knows its wrong but this man can afford to loose some money to the small pick pocket. Slowly the boy approaches his victim. Slowly he reaches in the pocket, going undetected. He has been doing it for a long time now that he has become a master at not being noticed. As he gradually pulls the wallet out he is knocked by a passer by, hitting the man he was stealing from. Knocked onto the floor the boy looks up into the eyes of the rich man. _

_Fear._

_He was waiting for his cold hard punishment from the man, but instead he just laughed. The rich man laughed a hard laugh that came straight from the belly. Slowly he crouched down to the boys level._

"_so, t'ieving from the king o' t'ieves are we?" he looked at the boy straight in the eyes. He noticed the special-ness of the boy. He had potential. "come, you must be hungry."_

_**FLASH**_

_A Large house. No a mansion. Surrounded by gauds. Inside this mansion was a room._

_Three men stood in the room. One was the Rich man seen in the market. One was another tall man. 20 years old, dark hair and dark eyes. His son. The other man was also tall, dark hair sweeping across his face. He was wearing sunglasses.18 years old. The boy in the market place._

_There was an argument going on. Its hard to work out what they are saying. Its in French. It starts to become clearer._

"_I wont do it" _

"_Remy, son. I kno' dis is 'ard, mais we need dis to happen if we are t' fin peace 'tween de gulids."_

"_no. Remy cant marry de girl. She be too young an she is an assassin! Plus, Remy don even like de femme."_

"_den get to know her, please son. You owe ye father dis much no? afta all, he did take ye off de streets and give ye a home non?"_

_Hatred._

_**FLASH**_

_Beautiful. Looking over New Orleans with its lights and soft music. Two people sit together. A man and a woman. The man is the boy in the market and the man in the office. It was Remy. The girl was new. Tall long perfect blonde hair. Deep blue enchanting eyes. She was gorgeous in every way. They were sitting close, Remy with his arm around her waist, cradling her on the grass as they looked out over their beautiful city. _

"_Je vous aime Belle. et je toujours ferai." he whispered in her ear. "I can' wait t' marry ye in de morning."_

_She smiled up at him. They share a passionate kiss together before they get up to leave. He hands her a playing card. The queen of hearts._

_**FLASH**_

_Inside a church. So many people sitting and watching. Two people stand hand in hand at the alter. The two people from the grass looking over New Orleans. It was Remy and Belle. _

_Happiness, Love._

_As they stare into each others eyes the priest speaks._

"_if there is any person here who believe that these two should not be held in holy matrimony, please speak now or forever hold your peace."_

_Glances across the room are shared between people. No one speaks._

_The wedding goes on as they share their vowels. Romantic words are shared by Remy confessing his eternal love for her. She stands there holding his hands. Tears begin to fall from her eyes. She turns and looks at her family. She turns and looks at him._

"_non" she says slowly. _

_Remy looks at her confused._

"_I do not love you Remy. I will not marry you. désolé" _

_She hands him back his card. She turns and runs down the isle and out of the church. Loud shouting is coming from the audience in the church. An argument is starting between the two families which leads to an angry fight. People flying everywhere in the church as they all begin to batter and beat each other with all the anger that fills them. _

_As Remy looks up, he see a man with a sword. He is running towards him with the blade, shouting curses at Remy. He does nothing but try to defend himself. With no weapon of his own there is little he can do. He dodges the blade, smoothly, leaping into the air and throwing a hard punch at his enemy. He can feel the anger. He can feel his powers. Scared he turns around to look for his father. Unable to spot his face he turns back to his opponent. Suddenly he is met with cold hard metal at it seeps through his skin and pierces _

_His body. _

_Pain, Heartbreak, Fear, Anger, Sadness, Depression, Love._

_All feelings felt inside by Remy start to build up. As he begins to feel his head get weak as the blood pours from his chest, he looses control. Suddenly the blade that is lodged into his chest begins to glow. The man on the other end of the sword begins to glow. The glow get brighter and brighter the more Remy looses control. _

_The man notices the glow around him and stumbles backwards in fear, pulling the long blade with him. Remy Screams out in pain. The charge left on his enemy. A few seconds and everyone will see. Remy looks up. In a few seconds, he will die, and so might Remy. He didn't care. His life was over anyway. 1 second and the whole of this church will know what I truly an._

_Gone._

Rogue woke up screaming. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she tried to untangle herself from her tossed up sheets as fast as she could. Leaping to her feet she ran as fast as she could to the bathroom. Throwing up all the feelings and emotions she just went through. It all made sense to her, yet nothing really made any sense. She was so confused. Her head spinning. She flung herself over the basin once more to relive herself of the trauma. Slowly she stood up to clean herself up in the sink. She turned to see her room mate in the mirror.

Terrified, kitty walked over to her friend and put her arm around her. "Rogue, I think you, like, need to see the professor." she said trembling as she wiped Rogues hair out of her face, careful not to make skin contact.

"Ah think ya right Kit."

translation: _Je vous aime Belle. et je toujours ferai : I Love you belle. and i always will._


	7. Forced to Remember

Rogue sat quite still in a large wooden chair in the big office. On the other side sat the professor in his wheelchair, hands together, forming a temple shape, his eyes where firmly shut. Silence swept over the room like a plague. The only noise was the loud ticking of the clock. Rogue felt very uncomfortable.

"Rogue, im going to have to ask you to relax. Im not going to be able to get past your barriers if you don't let me in."

"ahm sorry professah." she sighed and closed her eyes. She wanted help from him, but she didn't feel comfortable sharing Gambits memories without him knowing. But she needed to get rid of them… or at least find out the rest.

Slowly she felt the professor enter her mind. Pulling out more memories from gambit.

_**FLASH**_

_It was the large office again, containing the same men as before. But this time there were three other men as well. It was another argument, this time between the first three men and the new three men. There was a lot of shouting, again it was all in French. After a while, Rogue was able to understand._

"_E' is a mutant! E' canno' be trusted here." a small stout man stood in the corner, yelling and pointing at Remy, who was sitting in the opposite corner, his head buried in his hands looking at the floor. "E' is outa' control. E' killed Julian. Dis canno' be ignored and e' must be punished for it!"_

_Another man stood in the middle of the floor. Tall like the others, but he had long blonde hair and wore a velvet blue jacket. His face was red and he looked very angry. "Mon fils has just been killed Jean Luc. Mon daughter 'as had her heart broken. 'e must be punished. 'e must be banished from New Orleans, from the Guild. _

_The one named Jean Luc stood up. It was Remy's father. "I tink you' will find dat it was your daughter who broke mon fils heart. It was her who started dis 'hole mess." he leant on the table, staring hard at the blonde man. He was speaking through his teeth, trying hard not to loose his temper._

"_Fine. But still. De boy mus' be punished fo' 'is actions." pointing again at Remy as he sat in his chair. _

"_Unfortunately, 'e is correct. Somtin' must be done." Remys head shot up at his fathers words. "I am afraid I must banish yo' from 'ere Rems. Yu' killed someone. Desole my son, desole."_

_Remy stood up and stared at everyone in the room. For the first time that night he spoke. "'E came at Remy firs'!" he cried, "if 'e was alive still, woul' dis be 'appening t' him too?" he glared a his father, challenging him to tell the truth. _

_The man in the middle of the room opened his mouth to speak but Jean Luc cut in first._

"_Wha' 'appened 'append Remy. Deres noting' we can do about it." he looked over to the man in the middle of the room, who had now closed his mouth. Remy could see the satisfaction in his eyes gleaming. _

_Anger, Hatred._

_Remy picked up his trench coat a headed for the door. His father stood up to speak, but never got the chance. Remy slammed the door behind him before he could say a word._

_**FLASH**_

_The wind is whipping through the air as a man on a motorcycle speed through an empty street. There are few lights, no houses, no people, no noise. Just the loud roar of the engine. Suddenly an orb falls into the middle of the road, knocking the man off of his bike and sending him flying into a nearby tree. Moments later the man stands off and removes his helmet. Again it is Remy. There is not much light, but the red on black eye are glowing with so much hurt and hatred. He looks so much like a demon._

_He walks forward towards the metal orb that just destroyed his bike. Pissed off now even more than he had been he kicks the object with his boot. Almost instantly it opened. Out floats a large man dressed with a red cloak and a metal helmet._

_Remy went to grab his deck of card to use in defence only to find he didn't pick them up. Quickly he moved to his next pocket and reviled his bo staff. Extending it to full length he moved into position to attack, only to have his staff taken from him by nothing. It was then found in this new man hands._

_He stepped forward. "Remy le Beau I presume?" _

_Remy stood up straight and looked at the man cautiously. "'ow do you' no Remy's name?"_

_The man in front of him took off his helmet, revealing himself. He was older, with a head of white hair. "My name is Magneto. I have been looking for you for some time now. I caught onto your mutant power being used earlier this evening. You have great power by lad." _

_Remy eyed him up cautiously. "Wha' d'ya wan' wit Remy?" the whole situation seemed odd to Remy. He was wary of his surroundings and was ready to attack if he needed, but there was something about this man that made him want to listen to what he had to say._

"_I am looking to build a team of mutants. We are the evolution of man and we need to stand up for our kind. There are others like us out there, but we need to fight to ensure the survival of our race. I want you to be apart of my team."_

_Remy looked at him. The whole idea seemed stupid to him, but what did he have to loose? Where else could he go?_

"_Wat' does Remy get outa dis den homme?"_

"_food to eat, a place to stay and a grantee that no one will know of the murder that you took part in today." he smiles a cocky smile as he looked at Remy._

_Remy stood, stunned. What could he say. He couldn't risk people knowing about what he had done. There was no way out of it. He had to follow as instructed._

_Slowly he approached the large metal orb. Stepping inside he gulped. What is he getting himself into._

_**BLACK**_

Rogue opened her eyes again to see her original surroundings of the professors office. Slowly she watched as the professor moved around to the other side of the desk.

"well it seems we have learnt a bit more about our new friend." noted the professor as he spoke aloud. He looked up at Rogue. "I was able to empty the rest the rest of the memories from your mind. All I need was for those to be removed by yourself. Now my dear, I suggest you go have something to eat. You may begin to feel dizzy after a while. If you start having anymore of these memories, you know you can come straight back and I will help you."

She nodded as she got up to leave. As she walked out the door she passed Remy. She didn't want to talk to him after reliving his memories. She needed to get her head together. She just kept on walking.


	8. When Feeling Collide

Remy sat on his bed, legs stretched out and his back against the wall. He was rummaging around under his pillow, trying to find something. Finally he pulled out a familiar small book. He was about to start reading more from Rogues diary, but he suddenly felt a rush of emotions. His empathy was picking up feelings of anger, hope, sadness, frustration and insecurity. They were coming from somebody who was sitting on the roof of the institute.

He walked over to the doors of his balcony and stepped out. Luckily his bedroom was on the top floor, so getting to the roof wasn't going to be a hard task. He leapt onto the edge of the balcony and jumped onto the end of the roof. Pulling himself up he was able to see who it was the emotions were coming from. Looking over to the other side he could see a tall thin girl with auburn hair and strands of white blowing in the wind. Slowly he walked up behind her, careful not to make her jump in case she fell.

"Cher? Wat you' doin' out 'ere by yaself?" as he got closer he noticed how close she really was to the edge of the roof of the tall building. He was scared. She was scared. He stepped back. He could sense both feelings building up inside of him. What was she going to do?

"ah'm not by myself Remy. Ah'm neva by myself." she shifted. If he could see her face he would have guessed that there would be a sarcastic smile form at her lips. He didn't like the tone of her voice. Suddenly he felt a sense of confusion.

"Remy wat' are ya' doin' here?" she looked over her shoulder to see him standing against one of the chimneys, looking back at her with utter concern.

"Remy will tell ya' wen' you' come away from dat edge cher." he held his hand out so she could take it and he could pull her back in. she ignored it.

"Ah kno' all 'bout ya Remy Le'Beau. Ah got all ya memories from w'en ah touched ya. Back in New Orleans an' yesterday. Ah know all 'bout ya an' Belle. Ah know all 'bout ya killin' Julian. Ah know all 'bout ya an magneto." she finished. A tear running down her face. She couldn't understand why she was telling him this. She was up here to end it, yet she felt it was necessary to tell him everything that she knew first. She didn't want Remy to feel alone anymore. She wanted him to know that she had been through the same things as him. She didn't want to feel alone anymore. This was the way to end it. But first she had to tell him.

Remy was stood, back straight and stiff. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think. He should have known that she would have absorbed all of those things. What was she going to say next? He could sense somewhere inside she was feeling lost. But somewhere deeper he could sense happiness. If only he could tell what she was thinking.

"Ah got ya stuck in ma head Remy. Ya and all tha othas tha ah've absorbed."

They stood in silence for what seemed like forever. Remy was snapped out of his trance by her movement. Scared she would fall he went to move fast by her side. Instead she was still, no movement, just as before.

"Cher? Why yu' up 'ere?"

She opened her eyes. Shocked at first to see where she was, but soon familiarised herself with her surroundings. She looked down at the ground. Her stomach fluttered. Why was she up here? She didn't really want to end it. Not now. It was a good idea moments ago, but now Remy was here, she felt safe.

Remy moved forward taking her gloved hand into his own, pulling her away from the edge.

She took it willingly, and let him pull her into a close embrace. Slowly he led her to the floor of the roof as they sat against the chimney.

Slowly he rocked her as he rested his head on hers, stroking her hair with his gloved hand. Tears began to fall from her deep dark green eyes.

"Ah know how ya' feel Remy. Ah know what its like to have ya powers ruin evertin' ya got goin good for ya in ya life. Ah know 'bout ya an' Belles weddin' an' what 'appened between ya an' Julian." she looked up at him. She was so beautiful to him. Having her know these things about him just tore Remy up inside. But he already knew what she was talking about. He had already learnt about Cody from her diary and how her powers destroyed her life. But he couldn't tell her that. She was about to open up to him. probably for the first time in her life, she was about to willingly tell someone about her life. Suddenly he felt like he had betrayed her by reading her diary.

She proceeded to tell him about Cody and how he was her first love. She mentioned how he would be the only one she would ever love because of her powers. This angered Remy a little, but he didn't let it show.

They sat on the roof together all day. After a while of talking Rogue fell asleep in his arms. Remy sat cradling Rogue and thinking.

'_de Femme be right. we do 'ave much in common. We bot' got powers that destroyed people and dey families. We bot' got chased outta our homes 'cause of dem.'_

He looked down at the sleeping beauty in his arms. She was sound asleep and oblivious to the world. He went on thinking.

'_den dere is de ting 'bout oddahs wantin us 'cause of dem. Moi wit magneto an Chere wit Mystique. An afta it all, we bot' be getting' sanctuary wit' de x men.' _he laughed softly at his thoughts, careful not to wake the sleeping Rogue.

He looked at his watch. 8:30. They had been there for 12 hours now, and Rogue was still asleep. Just as he thought that, she began to stir in his arms. Slowly he began to lift her up, but she refused by nestling her head into his chest in hopes to get comfortable and fall back to sleep. He smiled.

"Cher, yu' need at wake up." he stated. At the sound of his voice she shot up, forgetting where she was. Looking at her watch she noticed the time and laughed.

"Ahm sorry swamp rat. dint mean t' keep ya up here foh this long" she looked at him with her best pair of puppy dog eyes. He looked at her and laughed.

"How coul' Remy stay mad at yu' Cher?"

Laughing they both stood up and went to leave. Remy grabbed Rogues arm just before she could walk away from him. Pulling her back into his arms for one last embrace.

"I will always be 'ere for yu' cher." he said as he gave her one last hug.

Her eyes widened. She didn't want to say anything but she noticed. He had spoken in first person to her. She smiled and she buried her head into his chest and returned the embrace.

"Ah think its tahm we started agen. We shuol make a deal, not t' dwell on our pasts an' move on." she looked up at him and he smiled.

"d'accord" he replied as they separated and left the roof.

Inside Remy was grinning like a little boy.

'_She know' 'ow Remy feels 'bout her! An' Remy be glad t' start a new life wit yu' cher' _he thought to himself, looking forward to the morning.

There was just one last thing he had to do that night. When he returned to his bedroom he found the small book still lying on his bed. He picked it up and put it in his pocket.

"Looks like Remy got t' go back t' 'is ol' ways an' sneak back int' yu room cher." he said to himself as he left his room, going to return the diary to where it belonged.


	9. New beginnings

The next morning all seemed normal at the institute. However in this case it meant that it was anything but normal. The boys where up and eating their cereal and watching the Saturday morning cartoons in the rec room. The girls where in the kitchen chatting and making plans for the rest of the day. Jean and Ororo were also in the kitchen making breakfast for the adults. Logan was in his Garage fixing one of his many bikes. The professor was in his office reading one of his many books, and Scott was pacing around thinking of new ways to improve the teams performance out on the battle field. No one was fighting, arguing over the TV remote. None of the girls were fighting over what boy they were going to go out with that night. Ororo wasn't getting annoyed with Jean using her abilities and making everything fly around in a rush. Logan wasn't sniffing the air, finding someone who had tried to break in or was doing something they shouldn't. Yes, everything was anything but normal.

One of the most abnormal things to happen that morning was Rogue, walking into the Kitchen smiling. Instead of her going for her normal deep cup of strong black coffee, she opted for a cold glass of orange juice. Everyone else in the kitchen just stood, or sat, and stared in amazement.

The usual heavy black and purple make was gone, and in its place was a softer shade of purple, with very little, in Rogues case, black eye liner and mascara. Her hair was tied up in a high pony tail with her white bangs falling down and shaping her face. She wore a fitted pair of dark blue jeans that had a tear in the knee, along with a black tank top.

Nobody knew what to say. Well except for one. Kitty came bouncing into the kitchen, with a huge grin on her face. "Like, don't you guys just love what iv done!" she said grinning to everyone and she went and stood next to her room mate.

"Its so Different, but I mean that in a good way of course" called jean over the heads of everyone else. She smiled at Rogue, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

Rogue smiled back. Today was the day that she would change her life for the better. She was going to take advantage of the good things god gave her, like her apparent good looks, and ignore the bad things, like her powers, or at least not let them get to her as much.

More and more people began to come into the room, that was beginning to get smaller and smaller, as rumours of Rogues new look spread across the institute. Everyone was complementing her or in Bobby's case, making sarcastic comments, that Rogue could tell was a hidden complement in itself.

As time went on people began to flow out, to do what ever various things they had decided to do. The boys went back to continue their watching of cartoons, while the girls all left to see their individual boyfriends or friends. Jean went to check on Scott to make sure he wasn't getting to excited or stressed about his new, or lack of, plans, and Ororo went to give the professor and hank their morning meals.

Rogue sat silently in the kitchen, sipping her glass of orange and reading the newspaper.

'_toda' sure is gonna be interesting' _she thought as she smiled to herself and went on reading her paper.

* * *

Remy stood in the doorway admiring his new view. Rogue was always beautiful to him, but today, now, she was something that words couldn't describe. He had seen many girls in his life time, well its Remy Le'Beau of course he has, but none of them had his attention like her. To him she looked like an angel.

He walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself a large cup. He knew it was all about new beginnings but he wasn't going to give up his morning coffee like rogue.

"morning cher," she stated as he walked past her.

She looked up and smiled at him. It nearly knocked him off his feet when he saw it. All he wanted to do right there and then was plant his lips on her and kiss her, regardless of her powers. Everything had already been absorbed by her so what did he have to loose right? He thought about it while drinking his coffee, but decided against the idea. This was a new beginning for him. He was going to wait for her, he was going to prove that he wasn't like the old Remy Le'Beau who just went from one girl to the next. He had the 'one' in his sights and he wasn't going to mess it up.

"wat ya up t' today den cher?" He said moving beside her and reading the paper over her arm.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was only wearing a white short sleeved T-shirt and no gloves. But she wasn't going to flinch, she was going to take control. Instead she focused her mind on something else. What was she going to do today? Everyone else had plans.

"ah don know yet swamp rat, havn' really though 'bout it." she sighed and pushed away the newspaper. Everything in it was about mutants. Things had been a lot more tough now everyone knew who they were. She finished her orange juice and got up. "Maght take a walk or sommat." she said as she put her glass in the sink. "you?"

"Well Remy be in need o' a new coat" they both laughed at the memory of Remy jumping around while Scott destroyed his trade mark piece of clothing. "yu' wanna come with Remy an keep 'im company?" he gave her his 'puppy dog' look.

"Fahn, ah coul' do wit' the exercise anyway," she smiled as they both left through the door, "besahds, ah need a new wardrobe too."

Remy grinned, the thought of rogue in the changing room, trying new underwear passed through his mind.

'_t'day sure is gonna b' interstin' _he thought, as he smiled to himself and carried on walking to catch up with her.


	10. Evolving Feelings

The mall was busy that day, and Rogue was beginning to feel conscious of the people around her. She wrapped her arms around herself, so she wouldn't accidentally touch anybody. Looking across the mall she saw a not so busy shop and pulled Remy inside.

It was a large clothes shop, not what Rogue would normally wear but she going to change, starting with a new wardrobe. She looked through piles of shirts, blouses, jumpers and tank tops, picking out a small selection. She then moved over to the trousers, pulling out a long pair of black jeans. As much as the old Rogue would have loved these, it wasn't much of a change, but they would look great with some of the tops she had just picked out, so she fadded to the collection she had on her arm.

"Hey Cher! Wat' 'bout dese?" Remy called. He was standing by a long line of clothes that were hung on the wall. She walked over to see what he was talking about. "Remy tink dese woul' look treis bien on yu' cher." he said grinning as he held up a very mini, mini skirt. She slapped him playfully over the back oh the head.

"Ya know ah can' wear that" she said taking it from him and putting it back on the rack.

"Yu' can if yu' wear dem underneath." he said pointing at another section of the shop, this one was full of tights, leggings and underwear.

She shook her head at him and walked back to where she came from. Looking at more clothes she looked up to see Remy walking towards her with his own pile of clothes.

"Ah don't thin' they gonna fit ya sugah," she said laughing. He grinned at her, his trade mark cocky grin. She knew exactly what he was thinking. "no thank ya, swampy. Ah got ma own pile of clothes, ah don't need ya to dress me up as well."

"cum'on cher. Remy'll let ya dress 'im up too" those damn puppy dog eyes again. Rogue bit her tongue. Well, dressing him up would be funny, and she did just so happen to have her camera phone on her too. She grinned. "Fahn, but ah'll only try on the decent things ya here."

They moved into the changing rooms. Rogue chose the one at the end and walked into it. Remy tried to follow her in, but she managed to push him out again.

'_stupid cajun' _she thought to herself.

She pulled out a light green strap top and a pair of light blue jeans. Checking the door was fully closed and locked so a certain person standing outside couldn't see her, she proceeded to change. She opened the door to show Remy. His jaw dropped instantly.

"Ah take it this was a good choice then?" she said laughing and closing the door again.

Remy was struck. _'ow coul' she manage t' get even more belle?'_

Remy's mind started creating images, every time she came out to show him a new outfit. He could help it. The new clothes hung to her figure, showing off her amazingly shaped body. As well as that, each time she emerged from her changing room, her smile would grow a little more. She was having a great time. Remy could never see the fun in shopping, until now. He would give a small clap each time she came out, or a whistle. He could see her cheeks turn a very slight rose colour, he loved it. He loved her.

'_whoa, di' Remy really ju's tink dat?'_

It made sense. He had been watching her for a while, he couldn't get her out of his head, he longed to just talk to her all day long like he could today. Then there was yesterday. She had spilt her heart out to him on the roof. She had told him everything about herself and her life growing up just because she wanted to. She knew everything about him and she was still here. She didn't run away, afraid of what he might do, knowing what he was capable of. She was still here.

He was snapped out of his thought by something so astonishing that he couldn't even think of what it was he was looking at. Unable to speak, unable to blink he just sat there dumb struck with his mouth hanging open.

Rouge had opened the door once more to show another outfit. Only this one was different. She was wearing a black spaghetti strap top with the light denim mini skirt he had picked up.

She laughed at his expression. "ah think ah'll keep this one actually." she said spinning around and admiring herself in the mirror. "Ah jus' need some skin colour tights t' go wit' it." she grinned at Remy once more then returned to her room.

'_Mon dieu, Wat 'av yu' got yourself into Remy.' _he sighed and tried to think of some other things to take his mind off what he had just seen. It was easier said than done.

"cher, yu' gonna grow into a tease", he heard a giggle come from behind the door and smiled. This was going to be very hard for poor Remy.

After they had paid for all of Rogues new clothes, they went to get Remy a new trench coat. he found one almost instantly. It was the same colour as his old one, and darkish dirty brown. It was long and had plenty of pockets for him to hide his bo staff and cards.

Happy with their purchases, they went and found a small coffee shop to sit down in and have a rest.

Remy got up to place their orders while Rogue sat with the bags. She sighed as she thought about everything she had bought.

She looked up and spotted a guy sitting a few table away looking at her. He looked to be around 18 years old, tall handsome. He had blonde hair and brown eyes. He was defiantly good looking. He got up and walked over to her.

"Hi, my name is Jake. Sorry to be a bit forward but you really are beautiful."

Rogue didn't know what to say. She could feel her cheeks getting hot as she blushed. He smiled at her.

"I've seen you on the news, you're a mutant right?"

She ducked her head down, she knew it was too good to be true that someone like him would just come over to talk to her. "yeah ah am, an if ya don't mahnd, ah just want t' sit here an not cause any trouble."

He laughed. '_why is he laughing?' _she thought to herself.

""You've got me wrong, im a mutant too." he smiled at her. "I can control water or anything liquid really." he turned to see a man sitting another few tables away. Using his powers he made the mans coffee jump out of his cup and fall all over his shirt.

Rogue laughed.

"And don worry, I saw on the news what your power is. So ill be careful" his smile was meaningful and sweet. He was cute, funny and sweet. Well she have something going right for her with her new look. "So, how can ah help ya sugah?"

"well I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the movies where we shall share popcorn and see a film of your choice."

He was cute, funny, sweet and charming. Jackpot.

"well ah don't see why not" she replied to him. "Just give me a moment so ah can tell ma friend."

Remy was coming back over with two cups of coffee to go. He was looking at her strangely. The cups must have been hot since he wasn't wearing his gloves.

"Hey Remy guess what" she spoke with a huge smile.

"Wh' was dat cher?" he said looking over at Jake.

"Well that's what ah was gonna tell ya. that's Jake he's a mutant too, an he's jus' asked me out on a date! isn't that great!"

He didn't say anything for a while and Rogue was wondering what was going through his mind. She hoped that he wasn't going to get all protective like Logan or Scott would have.

"Remy?" she poked him to make sure he was still paying attention.

He looked at her. She couldn't see his eyes because of his glasses. He nodded. "Remy will jus' meet yu' back at de mansion oui?"

"Okay" she smiled widely and got up to meet Jake. "oh, an would ya mind taking ma bags back sugah?" she smiled at him again and carried on walking. It had been so long since she had been on a date. Today was perfect to start again. It really was a day of new beginnings.

* * *

Remy went up to the counter to order two coffees to go. After a few moments he received two cardboard cups with lids, filled with hot coffee. He paid and turned to return to Rogue.

He looked over and saw her talking to some guy. Who the hell was he? He picked up the two cups and waked over hurriedly to the table where they where sitting.

She said something to him but he wasn't listening.

"Wh' was dat cher?" he said looking over at Jake.

"Well that's what ah was gonna tell ya. that's Jake he's a mutant too, an he's jus' asked me out on a date! isn't that great!"

Remy stopped. He could have sworn that his heart had stopped at that moment too. Did she just say that she had been asked on a date, and then confirm that she was actually going to proceed with said date with the new boy? Remy could feel his heart breaking.

'_how coul' yu' do dis t' me' cher?' _he thought to himself. He didn't know what to say to her. She had seen his memories and thoughts, she knew that he had strong feelings for her that had just evolved into love. He looked deep into her emerald green eyes. They were so full of joy and happiness. He just sat there and nodded.

"Remy will jus' meet yu' back at de mansion oui?" what was he doing? He couldn't just let her go off with this jerk. He looked up her, surprised to see her turn back to him. Was she going to stay instead? What she going to come back to him?

"oh, an would ya mind taking ma bags back sugah?"

He was pissed. Seething with anger. He watched as they walked off together. He could feel his eyes glowing. He couldn't believe Rogue was doing this to him. Just like Belladonna had done to him. So much for new beginnings. His life was just repeating itself.

He grabbed the bags and took off back to the mansion.


	11. Regretful Words

Rogue walked into the institute gates that evening at around 7. She walked up the long drive way thinking about what she had done that day. She had met Jake, a really cut and funny guy who was also a mutant. They had so much in common. Both liked the same music and films. They had gone that day to see the latest Batman movie, followed by food at a small restaurant down the road. She smiled at herself as she remembered all the things they had talked about that day.

She reached the end of the drive, to the front of the institute. Logan was outside playing with his bike as usual.

"Hey Logan." she called as she approached the animal under his bike.

"What's up kid?" he could smell something different in the air, something mutant. "Who have you been with today?" he asked cautiously.

She grinned at the hairy man, "Ah made a new friend, he's a mutant. Gonna see if he wants t' join th' x men." she went to walk towards the entrance of the institute.

"Just be careful Rogue. don't want ya getting hurt like ya did with Mystique." she turned and scowled at him.

"Mystique has gone Logan, foh good. Jake aint gonna hurt me." she turned back and ran into her home.

She ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Kitty wasn't in as usual, so she had the place to herself. On her bed she found her bags full of shopping that she left with Remy earlier. After unpacking them and hanging up all her new clothes on her side of the walk in closet, she left her room, heading towards Remy's bedroom.

She tapped on the door a few times, but there was no answer. She opened the door to find the room empty. She checked the bathroom and balcony but there was no one in. she sighed and left. Closing the door behind her she realised she was hungry again, so she walked back down stairs towards the kitchen.

* * *

Remy was riding along, wind whipping through his hair as he sped along the long and winding roads. He had been out on his bike for almost 2 hours now. He couldn't believe that Rogue had done this to him. It was all he had been able to think about since she left him in that café earlier that day. She had seen his memories, so how could she do exactly what belladonna had done. She knew how he felt about her and she just went ahead and smashed his heart again.

He had gone to a bar after he left the café and took the shopping home. He found a small and dingy place that had dark corners. He sat there for almost 4 hours, with the same glass of Jack Daniels that he never touched.

All day women had been walking up and throwing themselves at him. He refused out of bitterness. He didn't want to look at another girl for a while. Instead he sat on his own in a dark corner, stewing in his own anger and hatred for the women who had broken his heart.

After 4 hours he decided to leave and head back for the institute. Launching himself onto his bike, he roared through the streets towards the home he shared with her. But not for long.

He reached the institute and left his bike in the garage. He walked inside using the backdoor, which lead to the kitchen. He looked up and saw Rogue standing to one side, leaning on the counter with a tub of ice cream in her hand and a spoon in the other.

"evening sugah, where have ya'll been hiding." she said as she reached in to scoop out another spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

"nowhere" he stated as he stomped across the room, heading for the exit as quick as he could.

"nowhere? Where's nowhere?"

"just nowhere"

"what wrong with ya Swamp Rat?" she asked curiously, placing the tub of ice cream on the counter and moving towards him slowly.

He stopped in the middle of the room. Damn this kitchen for being so large otherwise he would have gotten away quicker. He turned to face her.

"wat' does dis 'Jake' 'av dat I don't cher?"

Rogue stopped and blinked in confusion. "What do ya' mean?" she stared at him with her deep green eyes. Oh how he loved those eyes. But she hurt him.

"Don't play games wit' me Rogue. Yu' know exactly what I mean. so wat' dos' dis 'Jake' guy got dat I don't?"

"Remy ah, ah honestly don't know what ya mean." her eyes where welling up, tears where threatening to fall down her cheeks.

Remy threw his fist down on the counter. "yu' know exactly 'ow I feel 'bout yu', yu' absorbed me so you must know. Now tell me, what is it!" he shouted.

"Ah don't know, hes jus' different somehow, ah don't know Remy." the tears where falling. She really didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

"Different huh? How?

"Ah don't know Remy! Why are ya asking me this? And why are ya shouting at me?"

"How is he different?" he yelled. His eyes were glowing so brightly, they where so full of anger, Rogue didn't know what to say.

"Ah don't know ah've only known him one day, but he just is." she began to get angry as well now.

"'Ow? Good lookin'? Rich? Perfect life? never done anything wrong-

"If ya mean he hasn't killed anyone then yes!" she shouted.

* * *

She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. She watched as he turned and flew out of the kitchen. She fell to the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest. What had just happened? What did he mean when he said about his feelings? Rogue didn't know about any feeling that he was talking about. Now she knew he like her obviously. But she had never known that from absorbing him. She racked her brains out trying to remember, but she couldn't.

She remembered sitting in the professors office while they where going through Remy's memories. She remembered the memory about Magneto, but that was the last one;

_- __"__well it seems we have learnt a bit more about our new friend.__"__ noted the professor as he spoke aloud. He looked up at Rogue. __**"**__**I was able to empty the rest of the memories from your mind. **__All I need was for those to be removed by yourself…" - _

The professor had removed the later feelings and memories. She had forgotten all about what she felt when she first absorbed him. She had known that he liked her, had strong feelings for her, but she had forgotten. Having the later memories and feelings removed must have wiped them out too.

She got up off the kitchen floor. She had to find him and apologise. She had to let him know that she really didn't know what he was talking about at the time, and if she had she would never had gone off with Jake that morning. There was something about this situation that told her it would be one of those things they would laugh about in the future.

She ran in the direction he had gone in, towards his bedroom. Running up 3 flights of stairs and down 2 corridors, she finally reached his door. Bursting in, expecting to find Remy, she found the room empty. All things belonging to Remy, his clothes, his pictures and his cards had all disappeared. There was no note left, instead there were bits of card on his bed, looking at them closely she saw that they were the King and Queen of hearts ripped up into pieces. He had gone, left the x men and it was her fault. She fell onto his bed. It still smelt like him, cigarettes and cologne. She hugged his pillow and cried herself to sleep. He was gone and it was her fault.

* * *

Remy couldnt believe she had said it. the hurt and hatred rushed through him like a shot of Adrenaline. he turned and flew out of the kitchen and went stright to him room. Running up 3 flights of stairs and down 2 corridors, he finally reached his door. He flung the door open and walked straight to his bed, picking up the duffle bag of clothes he had packed earlier that day, he threw it over his shoulder. Before he left he remembered one thing. taking out 2 cards from his pack of cards, he ripped them up and left the little pieces on his bed. never again would he offer his queen of hearts, never again would he have his heart broken.


	12. The Return

Rogue awoke the next day in Remy's room. Memories from the night before flooded through her memory, as she sat up.

'_All x men to the war room' _Jeans voice rang through her head suddenly, making her jump. She looked round the empty room. "all x men minus one" she sighed as she got up to leave.

She opened the door to the war room, only to find it full of the other x men. Scott was standing at the front waiting to start. It had been a while since they had been able to go on a mission, she could tell Scott and the others were excited, yet there was fear in the fearless leader, she could sense it.

"Team, Apocalypse is back." a wave of gasps swept across the room as they all registered the news. "The professor is going now to talk with him, to find out what it is he wants." he looked a Jean. She was shaking, with fresh tears in her eyes. Everyone could tell that something bad was about to happen. "we need to suit up and prepare to leave as soon as we need to. There are 3 pyramids around the world that are controlled by Apocalypse, as well as the sphinx. We must be prepared for the battle of our lives. It is up to us to save the world if we need to."

"Like, no pressure there then" kitty said, trying to add some sarfcastic humour into the meeting. It wasn't appreciated by Scott.

After the briefing they all went to suit up and prepare for the worst. Scott found Rogue as she was about to walk into her room with Kitty.

"Rogue, where is Gambit?"

"Ah don't know, Scott. Ah couldn't fahnd him yesterday, an haven't seen him today. His room is empty. Ah don't think he's coming back either."

He looked at her. "I should have known he would up and leave when we needed him the most."

Rogue began to grow angry, "He left yesterday! How was he t' know this would happen!?" she clenched her fists. She felt to need to stand up for him, considering it was her fault he had gone.

"well it's a shame. He would have been useful to us in this battle" he said as he turned away to leave.

Rogue stepped into her room slamming the door behind her.

"like woah! Whats up with you?" kitty squealed as she poked her head out from around the closet door.

"Nothin Kitty, Jus' Leave it." she said as she went to change into her outfit.

Later, everyone met up again in Cerebro's camber. A hologram was shown in the middle of the room. They could see the professor talking with Apocalypse. Everyone stood silently as they watched the horror of the professor and storm being taken by the giant. Being prepared for the worst was something, but none of them were expecting this. There was no time to mourn the loss of their parent figure friends. Instead they had to get ready.

Back in the war room Scott was about to start giving orders only to be interrupted by Logan.

"bring up the sphinx on screen!" called a voice over Logans shoulder. It was Nick Furry.

"do it beast" called Logan as they walked across the room. Rogue and the others watched the screens only to see that the sentinels had been brought back to fight. Memories of what happened the last time they encountered the sentinels ran through Rogues mind, images of Trask's lair and the horrible things that had happened to them.

She shook her head to rid herself of the images. Looking back at the screen she saw that sentinels had failed to destroy the domes. She sighed, knowing that it wasn't going to be that easy, but she didn't want to go up against Apocalypse again, it was her fault after all that he was alive. Her mind began to wonder. It had been her fault that a lot of things had happened recently. Apocalypse, the death of Mystique, Remy leaving.

She was brought back to reality by the sounds of shocked gasps coming from her team mates. Looking back at the screens, she saw four figures walking out of the sphinx, each one covered in Apocalypse's markings.

"They're alive" she heard someone say, as she watched Storm, The Professor, Magneto and Mystique, all walking towards Apocalypse, ready to do as commanded. This time she couldn't help it. She felt the tears building up in her eyes. She looked over at Kurt, he couldn't take his eyes of the screen. She watched as each one was assigned to a pyramid and one to the sphinx.

"That's it, im out of options. Well except for one, you guys." Nick said turning to look at the x men

"Way ahead of ya, we need for teams, one at each dome and one at the sphinx. We must absolutely gain control of these locations, so shadow cat, start with the brotherhood, night crawler, you try and find spike, Cyclopes and Jean, round up anyone else you can think of, and Rogue you come with me. I've got a special assignment for you." everyone moved out as Logan Pulled Rogue a different direction.

She didn't know what was happening, or where she was going. She just followed Logan and Nick Furry outside to the X van.

"Rogue we need you to go a retrieve Dorian leech. He is a young boy who has the ability to Shut down energy around him. His power will be useful to shut down the sphinx so you can get inside and destroy Apocalypse."

Rogue looked at them. Serious faces looking back at her. Why was she the one with the "Special" mission? Why did she always have to be the one with the big responsibilities? But at a time like this, she didn't want to argue. She bowed her head and stepped into the x van.

They all sat in uncomfortable silence as they van drove into the city. Logan had to go to one of the Pyramids with a team, so Rogue was left with Nick Furry and his team. She could hear them muttering to each other, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She just sat there and stared out of the window.

The sky had become dark, as clouds began to build up. Something bad was happening out there and she didn't know what. She hated Logan for keeping her in the dark like this. She wanted to be out there in the fight, helping her team mates stop the thing that she started. She thought about her friends, hopping they were safe out there. Her mind drifted off to Remy. He was out there by himself, not knowing what was happening.

'_Remy, Ah'm so sorry foh wha' ah done t' ya. If ah coul' ah woul' take back every word. Ah woul' neva have gone out wit' Jake. If ah had really known how ya felt, ah wouldn't have left ya foh anyone. Ah'm so sorry. Please, jus' be safe out ther'. Please god, look afta him, let him be safe.'_

A silent tear ran down her cheek. The battle she was about to get in was unpredictable. She wanted to tell Remy she was sorry, she just wanted him to know how she felt, how much she cared for the stupid cajan. But there was no knowing if she would get out of this battle alive, since she was the one who must go up against Apocalypse face to face.

A Huge lightening bolt tore through the sky, immediately followed by a loud crash of thunder. She watched as the rain poured outside the van she was travelling in. She was terrified of what might happen out there. She remembered when she last saw Apocalypse. The power he had once he had taken all her absorbed powers. Thinking of the mess she had started, now she was going to finish it. She clenched her fist, if this was going to be the end, she wasn't going to go down without a fight.


	13. The Mission

The van stopped outside a dank block of flats. Rogue looked up from inside the van. The sky lit up behind it from the storm. It was a very tall block of flats, and something told her that the one they wanted was right at the top.

They stepped out and ran into the entrance to shelter themselves from the rain. The power had been cut so there were no lights. Each corridor was pitch black, making the place look eerie. It was like one of those places you see on horror films, where you just want to shout "Don't Go Up There!!" to the person on the screen. Unfortunately for Rogue, she had to go up there and find the boy. Because of the power cut, the lifts couldn't't be used, so they went towards the stairs. At the bottom there was a list of occupants in the flats. Looking along the list they finally found the name they were looking for.

'**Mrs Leech - Flat 25b - Floor 50****'**

She sighed as she began the long walk upstairs. When they reached the 30th floor, some of the men had to stop for a while to catch their breath. She didn't understand why they needed to be there, this kid wasn't exactly dangerous was he? She carried on walking up, not wanting to stop and wait for the others.

She finally reached the door to Mrs Leech's flat. She knocked gently on the door and waited for an answer.

"Who is it?" came a timid voice from behind the large slab of wood.

"Mrs Leech? Mah name is Rogue, can ah come in an talk t' you?"

"Leave us alone. We don't want any trouble. Its was the storm that cut the power, Dorian had nothing to do with it"

Rogue could hear the tremors in her voice. "Mrs Leech, ahm not here foh trouble. Im from a team of mutants called the X men. Ahm here to ask foh Dorian's help." she paused, waiting for an answer.

None came, instead she could hear the clicks and clinks of chains and locks behind the door. Slowly it opened. Mrs leech peered round the door to look at Rogue. She was a medium height woman, brown hair but very pale skin. Something told Rogue that this woman doesn't get out much. She led rogue into her living room. It wasn't much, a small sofa and a table. There was no TV, instead just books, scattered around the room. The flat wasn't that big, suitable for 1 or 2 people, from what Rogue could see it only had four rooms. The living room where they were standing, a small kitchen, a bed room and a bathroom. The place was lit up by candles, only a few, but it was enough to see clearly with.

"Mrs Leech, can ah speak with Dorian?"

She nodded, slowly she walked into what Rogue could see as the bedroom. She returned with a small child walking behind her. He was very small and also very pale. However Rogue could tell that his skin colour was part of his mutation. He cant have been anymore than 5 or 6 years old, behind him he dragged a teddy bare, all torn and tattered. It must have been the only person possession the small boy had of his own. They weren't exactly well off, not having the many luxuries other families could have. Rouge could feel herself choking up. She had to focus.

"Dorian, mah name is Rogue." she said as she crouched down on the ground, so she was almost at his height. "an ah need ya help sugah."

There was a loud thud on the door. "Rogue are you in there" came the voice of Nick. The other men had finally caught up.

"Ahm in here, just wait for me outside." she stated as she turned back to the young boy.

She paused and looked around the room, looking again at the books scattered around. "what's ya favourite story sugah?"

Dorian looked down at the floor, then glanced over to the table that stood in the middle of the room., On it was an open book "The BFG" he said with a smile. He looked up proudly at his mum who put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well ya know how there are the mean giants in that story, an' the BFG and Sophie help to stop them?" he nodded smiling, he liked it that she knew his favourite story. "well that's what ah need ya help with. There are some mean mutants out there now, and ah need you to help me stop them. You wont need t' do anything dangerous, ah jus' need t' borrow ya powers foh a while, because ya have the best power in the world." she smiled at him and he smile back.

"Really? I do?" he grinned up to his mum who smiled back down at him. "I wish everyone was a nice as you." his smile disappeared, as his face turned into a sad expression. "everyone else thinks im a freak."

"But your power can help save all those people, then maybe they wont think that of you anymore. Then you will be a hero." his smile appeared again. He looked at rogue and flung forward, arms wide open, giving her a hug, as big as his arms would let him. At first she flinched, but remembered that she was in her uniform, and he was safe. She returned the hug to the young boy, and sighed in relief.

Rogue stood up and looked at his mother. "is it ok if ah can use his powers to help save everyone?" her words were blunt but true.

Mrs Leech just looked at her confused. "What do you mean, you use his powers?"

"mah own mutation allows me to absorb the powers from other mutants, I can use the power foh a little' while but it doesn't last long. I will need to take you both to Egypt with us, there ah will absorb his powers so ah will have them foh longer. Dorian wont have to do anything dangerous, he will be completely safe and with you the whole time. Ah have a team of people outside waiting foh us, they will take good care of ya both."

It took a while for it all to register in her mind, but Mrs Leech agreed to help. They all left straight away, walking back down the many flights of stairs. When they got outside the block of flats there was already a helicopter waiting for them a short walk away in a small compound.

As the all climbed into the helicopter and got settled, Nick finally told Rogue what was going to happen.

"We are going to take you as close to the sphinx as possible. Cyclopes, Wolverine and Night crawler are already there, trying to get past Mystique. Inside is Apocalypse, I don't know what will happen as far as that, Logan will fill you in with the rest when we get there."

Rogue sighed. It was going to be a very long night, she didn't know what the outcome was going to be. For all she knew she would die and that would be the end.

She felt a small hand pull at her glove, she looked across to see Dorian holding her and his mother. He looked up at her. He didn't say anything, but he smiled. It was all the encouragement she needed. She looked back out of the window, watching at the world beneath then speed past as they flew to Egypt as fast as they could.


	14. The Final Battle

When they finally arrived in Egypt, Rogue felt a splurging sensation in her stomach. She looked out over the desert where she could she the Sphinx clearly. She turned to see Dorian laying unconscious in his mothers arms. Taking a deep breath she slowly descended down the steps to the ground. She could see flashes of light coming from inside, at least that must mean Scott is still alive right?

As she walked closer, she jolted. Falling to the floor, she couldn't breath. She was terrified, her body shaking all over. How could they expect her to do this? It was Rogue, no one wants anything from her, and she don't want anything from anyone. that's how it had always been, so why now were they all depending on her to save them all? Yeah, she had been the one to set him free, but she couldn't help it she was under the influence of others. She was crouched there on all fours. Her head hung low with her hair draping down over her face. She sat, staring at the sand, trying to receive each breath naturally. She was panicking, no one was there to help her, what was she going to do.

Quickly she found something to focus on, to help her get back into shape. She saw a small ant running across the cracks in the desert sand. He was carrying a large rock on his back, scurrying along to try and find his was back home, to help add and build more to his colony. Then it occurred to her. Sometimes you have to carry more than you weight on your shoulders, so you can build a better future for the people around. It was something to do out of the goodness of her heart, to save everyone on the entire planet, and make sure her future was going to be a safe one. Well, if it wasn't, how was there going to be any hope of her finding Remy again?

Remy. She couldn't work out why she felt so strong towards him. He was just a good friend right? Nothing more. But what about Kitty, she was a close friend, why wasn't she worrying about her as much as she did about Remy? It wasn't just a friendship. Deep down, she knew that she loved him. They had shared so much, she had told him so much. She had to tell him.

"Com'on Rogue. Get ya Ass off the floor and save th' world." she clenched her fists as she stood up. "ya' gotta do it if ya ever wan' t' see that damn cunjan again." She took some deep breaths, and started to run towards the Sphinx.

"LOGAN!" she could see him, fully in battle with what looked like a bunch or scorpions. She hesitated for a moment before running to help her friend.

Logan had heard her cry and turned to see Rogue standing under an arch or sand bricks. Inside he was grinning with joy. At least she was safe, and now there was a chance to finish this mayhem. He finished slicing and dicing at the scorpions before he jumped and turned to run towards his fellow team mate.

"Hey kid, glad you could make it." he smiled at her

"Are ya kiddin? Ah wouldn' miss this party foh the world." she grinned back up at him. Together they looked around to find the room empty apart from a broken down Scott and Kurt. Where had the scorpions gone? Then she saw. As they all ran together, melting together and forming one tall, slim and female figure. She watched as Mystique began to walk over to them, now she had noticed the new member to the group.

BAMF "Hey siz! Bout time you showed up here." the elf cried, as he hughed his sister,

"No time for that now Kurt, I need you to get Rogue in there, while we deal with Mystique out here." Logan looked over to the woman who was slowly transforming into half a dozen snakes, that quickly slithered up to the group of people, and a few over to the heap, that was Scott, on the floor.

"Not a problem" he replied, as he saluted his leader and grabbed his sister by the arm.

BAMF

Inside the chamber, rogue could see blue lights coming from what looked like a computer. There was a concrete block in the middle of the room, and laying upon it was Apocalypse. Rogue held her breath. Her instincts were telling her to let go, let go of all the built up power that was in her. She felt a huge rush of relief flow through her and out of her skin. She was letting go of so much, power, feelings, pressure, her muscles and limbs became relaxed as she let everything go. Slowly she realised that she was building up on energy, all the energy around her was shutting down, but she was becoming stronger and more powerful.

Her head was becoming empty, all the people she had ever absorbed were leaving her mind, freeing her of all stress she carried. She began to forget about everything that was worrying her in life, her worry about touching people, hurting people, killing people. It was all going, she was becoming carefree, and with it she was gaining confidence that she never knew she had. Her head was empty, her mind wasn't going crazy, it was her own voice she could hear. Her body was relaxed, but it was strong at the same time. She was ready for anything.

She looked over at the table. Apocalypse was crying out as he felt his systems shut down. He tried to get out of his shell, that lay on the table. Rogue ran over to him and began to close him in, preventing him from escaping.

"Ah am not letting ya get out of here again! This is mah world, mah home, an' ya cahnt have it! The people out there are capable of deciding foh themselves an' don' need ya'll to help them. Ya' cahnt just come aroun' here an take ova. Ah wont let ya! We may be screwed up as a race, hell ah think ahm the most screwed of the lot of em! An we may all hate each other, but we are a family, an' when we need t' we stand together. There aint nothing ya'll can change about that!." she was about to close the last part, but he managed to break free. Reaching out through the gaps, Apocalypse grabbed Rogues Arm, pulling her towards him. He was expecting to gain the power he had before, but this time there was nothing. There was no power in her for him to take. Instead, their bare skin contact enabled Rogue to finish him once and for all. She drained him of all his power, leaving him weak and unconscious in his cocoon shaped pod that she was closing. But this time her power was different. Sure it had drained the power he had like always. But this she was willing it to happen. She could stop when ever she wanted, take as much or as little as she wanted. She was in control. She removed her arm sharply away from his. Out of nowhere Logan appeared, jumping onto the cocoon and closing it completely.

"Rogue, turn the power back on!" he cried, as he prevent a newly awakened Apocalypse from escaping.

She hesitated at first. She had control, what if turning releasing all this energy made her loose control again. But there were bigger things at stake here. She took another deep breath and released all her energy. All the blue lights returned, as the computers came back to life. The pod that held Apocalypse began to rise. Logan jumped of, and releasing his claws he destroyed the computers around the room.

Rogue stood in the middle of the room, feeling the familiar sensation of release. Slowly she began to run out of energy, causing her to collapse. She felt her head hit the cold surface of the ground. She was able to open her eyes, to see the pod disappear in a bright flash of light that took over the whole room. She squinted as the brightness was too strong for her to handle. She closed her eyes and was unable to open them again. She was unconscious. She didn't know if she was alive or dead. Was this the end for her?

* * *

Remy looked up at the sky. The clouds were black and the only light was that coming from the lightening. The rain began to pour down in front of him. It was so heavy and dangerous, he could go any further on his bike. He had been heading back to New Orleans. The only place he had ever been able to call home. He was going to beg his father for forgiveness.

He stopped at a small diner on the side of the road. He walked in, looking like a drowned rat. Water from the rain poured off him, from his hair and trench coat. he heard the welcoming sound of the bell, above the door, alerting the staff that they had a customer. He sat down at a small table in one of the corners away from everyone else, and ordered a cup of coffee. As he sat and wondered about his cher, he began to feel a pull at his heart. He couldn't help but think that maybe he had done the wrong thing in leaving.

"Mayb' the femme was telling' yu' de truth. Wat if yu makin' de biggest mistake o' yu life Remy?" he sighed as he took a sip of his hot coffee.

For about an hour he sat in the diner, with the same cup of coffee. The rain wasn't getting any better. In fact it was getting a lot worse. "Remy tink Stormy be in a bad mood non?" he chuckled to himself. He looked up at the TV screen that had just been turned on. Flicking through the channels, all he could see was the news. Each news station was showing the same thing. He watched as cameras showed his the disaster in Egypt. He watched as Jean and the Professor fought in the sky. Flicking to another channel, he saw Wanda in battle with her Father Magneto. What was going on? How did he not know about it? Apocalypse was back and he was sitting in a dinner doing jack all about it. Flicking to another channel he watched as the professor falls to the floor, a bright blue light bursts out of the Sphinx behind the pyramid. The showed a vortex open up in the middle of the sky, and a small cube rise up and disappear into it, closing the hole behind it.

BAMF suddenly in front of the TV crew, other people and various X men around, Kurt appeared, holding onto Scott and Logan. There laying Across Logans arms lay Rogue, pale, limp and unconscious. Dead?

Remy didn't wait for the rain to clear. He ran out of the diner, not even paying for his coffee, and jumped onto his bike. Pulling on his helmet, he flew down the road back the way he came. He had to make sure Rogue was ok.


	15. Sinister Meetings

She lay on the hospital bed. Beeping machines all around her. There were tubes running in and out of her body, some pushing fluids in and some taking them out. She was wearing an oxygen mask with a bag at the bottom, it wasn't inflating or deflating. Her red hair, draped across the pillow, like flames rising from her body. She had been there so long now that her hair had grown quite long. Her face was closed. No emotion showed, no colour, no hint in life. Her emerald green eyes hadn't been seen by anyone but the doctors for almost a year now. People missed them. They missed her eyes, her emotions, her Mississippian accent. They missed how no matter how cold hearted she tried to be, she would always have a way of making people feel good and happy if they were down.

It had been almost a year. Rogue had been in a coma since the night she saved the world. Things had changed so much since then. Humans were coming around to the idea that they shared a society with mutants. Mutants stopped fighting with each other, Magneto and he team had joined the X men, to help teach the younger mutants and train them with their abilities. Of course there were the odd ones who still thought that humans and mutants couldn't live together, or mutants were the superior race. But all in all, the world had changed. it had changed for the better and it was all thanks to Rogue.

For the first few months, she had lain in the med bay at the institute, but there was nothing that could be done there. She was then admitted to a hospital near by, where she could get the proper medical treatment and attention she needed as a coma patient. Hank would come in every so often to check up on her and read through her medical notes, but there was never any change.

There was another who visited every day since the day she slipped away into a deep and peaceful sleep. Remy Le'Beau, former thief and ladies man, had turned depressed and desperate. He never left Rogues side. It had become apparent to everyone of his love for her after a few weeks. And now a year later, he was a changed man. Dishevelled with no cares apart from Rogue. He had given up on the world, but not on his love. He new she would come back to him some day, and he was going to be there when it happened. Until then, nothing else mattered.

"I kno' I ain' always been a good man. I used t' t'ieve as a boy an' a man, but deat was only t' survive. I kno' I used t' hurt people, sleep wide women for fun, tell dem what dey wanted t' hear an' den never call, I regret it. but I never hurt any of dem. an' Julian, deat wasn't my fault. All t'geder I kno' I ain' really been a good man. I kno' I deserve punishment, but deis shouldn't be it. I shouldn't have t' live wideout my Amour. dere are so many oder people affected by dis as well. She has done so much good in her life. Why must she be like deis, is it payment? She saved de world, de least y' coul' do is let her enjoy her success. Please, ill never do anydeing wrong again. Ill follow de bible, ill go t' church every Sunday, I promise. Ill return t' being a good cadeolic. Please just give her back t' me. I'll do anydeing, absolutely anydeing, wide no questions asked. I just want her t' wake up so I can look int' her deep an' beautiful green eyes. I just want t' be able t' hear deat beautiful soudern voice again, listen t' deat melodic laugh of hers deat lightens up her face. I just want t' be able t' Amour her. She is a perfect angel in my life, an' I understan' why y' woul' want one so beautiful back in y'r heaven, but please, y' can wait a little longer. I can' stan' seeing her like deis, I need her t' be awake an' enjoying her life 'ere. She's still y'ng. Please just let her wakeup. Take me instead. Ill do anydeing t' have her back again."

"What a lovely speech Mr. Le'Beau" a tall, slim, white man stood in the doorway of Rogues room.

Remy swung round in his chair at the abrupt appearance of the new visitor. He had never seen this man before. He was wearing glasses, black ones, so Remy could not see his eyes. Slowly he walked over to the other side of Rogues bed and pulled out a chart from her side. He flicked through the many pages of numbers and charts, nodding and confirming what he was reading. Remy watched him closely, was he a doctor? He wore a white lab coat so maybe he was. But remy had never seen him around here before, so he wasn't ready to let his guard down so easily.

"How d'y know my name?" he questioned. He knew that a couple of the nurses had learned it after a few weeks at the hospital, but none of the doctors had ever cared to find out.

"I know a lot of things about you Remy Le'Beau. Discarded onto the streets as a boy, found by a Mr. Jean-Luc Le'Beau and adopted. Almost wed to a beautiful young girl, but ended up killing her cousin instead. Lived with the X men for a few weeks before the whole 'Apocalypse' saga appeared and you have spent almost the last year sitting by this girls side, praying for her to wake up." he grinned a toothy grin. He put aside the chart he was reading and looked into bt he other mans eyes. "I can help you."

Remy was still getting over the shock of this man, and how he had found out so much about his life. He had never seen him before, and now he clearly wasn't from the hospital. But he wasn't afraid. He would do what he needed to protect his cher. But there were a few things he needed to know first.

"'ow d'y kno' all dis stuff about me?"

"Please Mr. Le'Beau, there are much more important things that we need to discuss." he paused and looked deep into Remy's red on black eyes. Since Apocalypse, humans had become m ore accepting towards mutants, so Remy no longer felt the need to wear his glasses around them. He stared back, waiting for the mysterious man to talk. "I can wake her up." he nodded towards the young woman laying in the bed between them both.

Remy looked down a Rogue. There was so much about this that didn't make sense, didn't feel right. He knew it was all too dangerous. But then, there was a chance he could have his Rogue back. Maybe this was the answer to his prayers. This is what he needed to do to get her back. He casually ignored the pulling inside of him, telling him not to do it. It was like he had promised. He would do anything. But the tugging kept on at him inside.

"who are y'?" he asked for the first time.

"My name is Dr. Essex. I specialise in mutant medical treatment. You know, I heard about 'Rogue' and her state. I though I would devise a way to help her wake up, and maybe control her powers too." he smiled, again it was that same toothy grin.

Remy couldn't help it. He had to believe that this was the answer he had been looking for, now with an extra bonus. When she wakes up she will be able to touch him. He couldn't help but release the smile that was building up on his inside.

"wat id it y' want Remy t' do?" he said, not hesitating. He was willing to do what ever it took.

Essex just carried on smiling, slowly his smile turned into something else that Remy couldn't quite figure out. Something you might call, sinister?


	16. Awakening

An odd beeping came from a few meters beside her. What was it? She couldn't work it out. Her throat was sore. It felt like someone had pushed a chain saw down, through her mouth and ripped it to shreds. Her eyes felt like they had been sewn shut, and her body had been hit by a lorry. She felt like she should be in immense pain, but instead she just ached. Forcing her eyes open, she found herself in a small room, neatly decorated but not much furniture, just the bed and a small table beside the bed. Where was she? Looking over to the table, she found the source of the beeping. A small black alarm clock flashing at her. It was 10:00 according to the clock. Her head was fuzzy. She couldn't remember anything. She didn't know where she was or how she got there. The last thing she could remember was Apocalypse. She must have passed out or something. This must just be the hospital or maybe even the mansion, just a part that she hadn't seen before. She turned to get out of the bed, placing both feet firmly on the floor. She moved to stand, instantly falling back onto the bed, throwing an arm out to support herself on the table, she knocked off a glass of water that stood there next to the clock.

"CRAP!" she exclaimed, as the grabbed her wrist, clenching her other hand around it as if it would some how instantly stop the blood dripping out. But there was no blood. She examined her hand and the shards of glass that were penetrating her skin. She looked on the floor, the small pile of glass that had shattered and fallen there, glistened in the light. She only knocked the glass, how could it have broken in such a way? She must have hit it harder than she thought. She looked back at her hand. Still no blood. Slowly she began to pull the glass out, ready for the pain that would no doubt follow her action. But there was none. No pain, no blood.

'_How can this be?_' she thought to herself. Confused, she stood and had a good look around the room. It was white and simple, no real decoration other than the flowery bed sheets that she had been sleeping on. She looked over to the window and noticed it was a door leading out to a balcony. She walked out and was warmly welcomed by the sun on her arms and the soft bustling of the streets below. But none of it seemed recognisable to her. It wasn't her home. This definitely wasn't the X mansion. Where was she?

She heard a rustling come from outside the room. She returned to her bedroom and walked cautiously towards the door, opening it slowly she saw two figures standing in the room behind it.

One was a tall woman, around 5"9, thin but well built. She was Asian with piercing blue eyes. Her hair was dark with purple streaks. She was dressed in a plain black t shirt that hugged her body tightly, a pair of blue jeans and knee high black boots. She was perfect in every angle.

Standing beside her was another figure. A man, standing around 6"4. He had a perfectly chiselled body, strong and muscular. His face was perfect, showing a small stubble of beard growing on his chin. His hair was long and messy, reaching just above his shoulders and bangs sweeping around his face.

Rogues heart skipped a beat when she saw this man, instantly recognising him as her Remy, although his appearance had changed quite a bit.

How long had she been asleep? Where was she? Where were all the other X men? Who was this other woman with Remy? What happened after Apocalypse? Why had she woken up in a place that she didn't know? So many questions ran through her head at once that she began to feel dizzy. Stumbling back, she found the doorway and leant against it, forcing herself to stay standing. In a flash, Remy was by her side, holding on to her. She looked up into his eyes, those wonderful and seductive red on black eyes.

"Remy? What's going on?"

* * *

Remy walked along the streets towards his home. Next to him was a woman. Betsy. She was fantastic, sexy and smart. He had enjoyed her company over the last few weeks while living in London. He saved her life one night, the first night he was in London, when one of the small remaining mutant hating groups had cornered her in a back alley. They had been together ever since, living in London. Of course she would never amount to the woman that Rogue was. He sighed as he thought about that woman he had tried to save. It would only be a matter of days now until she wakes up. A smile crept upon his lips as he thought about her waking up and being able to stare into her gorgeous green eyes again.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you." He looked over at Betsy, realising he hadn't been listening to what she had been saying. "I can tell, you had that 'far off look in your eyes'… that and I'v known you long enough now to know that when you agree to me making dinner you obviously aren't listening to me." she scowled.

"Remy is desole Petite" he replied, placing an arm around her shoulders and walking her up the steps to their apartment.

They were laughing together as they entered the front door, until Remy stopped suddenly. He heard a noise coming from the room to his left. Pulling Betsy away, he was about to enter and see what it was until the door opened.

Standing there was his angel, those bright green eyes, confused and startled, staring back at him. He watched as staggered back towards the door. Instantly he crossed the room to her side, holding her tightly in his arms once again. Everything in that one moment was so perfect. He looked down into her scared face.

"Remy? What's going on?"

He smiled, the sound of her southern voice swam through his ears like music. Everything was going to be ok.

* * *

She stood alone on the other side of the room, watching the two embrace in front of her. The last 3 weeks had been perfect with just her and Remy alone. Now _she_ was back in the picture and everything was about to plummet down hill. But she knows that Remy has feelings for her, and it wasn't going to take much for him to fall in love with her and leave Rogue.


	17. Explanations

Remy took Rogue by the hand and lead her into the room she had woken up in. Turning to close the door, he looked at Betsy and smiled. Hearing the click of the door he turned back to see Rogue sitting on the bed, staring at him. He had been waiting so long to be able to hold her in his arms, talk to her and listen to her talking to him. He had missed her so much.

"What's the last thing you remember cher?" Remy asked as he moved and sat on the bed beside her. The two sat next to each other uncomfortably for a moment.

"Apocalypse."

"Apocalypse? Wha' 'bout him?"

"Ah remember tha pyramid. Ah remember shuttin' him down, an tha earth shakin' an then… nothing."

"An' yu' don' remember anythin' after dat?"

"Nope, nothing. That happened an then ah woke up here. - Remy, wha''appened?"

"A lot 'appened after dat cher. Are yu' sure yu' want t' talk 'bout it now?" he looked at her, concerned. He didn't want to confuse her or upset her. But he was just so happy to hear her voice again.

"Yes ah'm sure. Wha' happened after Apocalypse? How did ah get here? Where is here anyway cause it sure as hell aint Bayville."

"Non its not. In fact, its London." he grinned

"LONDON!" she exclaimed as she jumped to her feet and paced to the other side of the room.

"Yes London, like remy said cher, alots happened." He was quick to his feet and moved swiftly over to Rogue, what he was going to say next would be a lot for her to process, he didn't know how she would react. "After Apocalypse yu' fell int' a coma."

Her eyes widened. What had happened after her battle with Apocalypse? What had happened to the rest of the X men? And Why was she in London?

"How long was ah out foh?"

"Almost 2 years." he sighed in reply.

Rogue sat silently, it wasn't unheard of for her to black out after using her powers, and after Apocalypse she had used them to their full extent.

"Okay, so how did ah end up in London? Where are tha rest of tha X Men?"

"Dey were by yu'r side when yu' fell int' de coma, comin' in religiously t' make sure yu' were okay… but time wen' on, an' yu'r status never changed. Hank came in about once a week t' check on yu', but after a year o' yu' bein' in de coma even he began t' stop visitin'. "

She turned and looked him in the eyes. Was he telling the truth? Had the X Men given up on her?

"Remy never left yu'r side though cher. He couldn' bare t' see yu' lyin' in that bed like yu' were. So he found a specialist here in London t' help yu' an' wake yu' up." Pulling her into an embrace he smiled. "an' Remy think this man must be good because he brought yu' back t' me non?"

"Ah Spose." she sighed as she moved away from the warm body towards the window.

"Whats wrong cher?"

"They just stopped carin'. Mah own family an they jus' stopped carin''bout meh."

"Oui. But Remy didn'."

Rogue grinned. She continued to gaze out of the window, looking down onto the streets of London. She could feel his presence moving close behind her. It hurt that the X men had given up on her, but at the same time it felt good to know that Remy hadn't done the same. She thought about the last time she had spoken to Remy. The harsh things she had said, she could feel tears forming in her eyes. After everything that had happened between them, he was still here. As if he had read her thoughts, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and moved his mouth to her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her skin. Slowly she closed her eyes and focused on his breathing.

"Forget 'bout dat night cher, I 'av. Remy know yu' didn' mean dem things yu' said." slowly he moved his head to her shoulder and kissed it through the satin dressing gown she was wearing.

A shiver ran down her spine as she leant back into his embrace. "So, who is tha girl outside?"

"Who Betsy? A friend. She's a mutant, Remy found her bein' attacked by a small group o' mutant haters outside a club one night. She jus' stuck 'round since den. t' be honest its been nice t' have de company, yu' havnt exactly been much o' a chatter box la'ely."

They laughed together as they stood in a long embrace by the window. But somewhere in the back of Remy's mind there was a nagging. How could he tell her the whole truth? Its not exactly something he could hide from her for the rest of their lives, it would soon become very obvious, and then she would have so many other questions that would demand answers, and then he would have to tell her everything.

* * *

On the other side of the door, Betsy could hear everything.

"…t' be honest its been nice t' have de company, yu' havnt exactly been much o' a chatter box la'ely."

She knew he had feelings for her, and soon those feelings would blossom into love. Rogue would be easy to handle, all she had to do is make sure she stumbled across the truth. Rouge and Remy would be no more, Remy would realise his Love for her and it would only be Betsy and Remy from then on.

She removed her ear from the door and crossed the lounge to her own bedroom. Closing the door securely behind her she walked over to her wardrobe, pulling out a black T shirt with two flaming Aces on it. Falling onto her bed, she hugged it.

"Soon Remy Le'Beau, it wont just be your T shirt"


	18. Broken Glass

Rogue rummaged through the wardrobe in her room. There wasn't much, but she found a pair of jeans and a dark green T shirt. She sat down at the dressing table and stared at herself in the mirror. She definitely looked older since the last time she looked at her reflection, and to her it only felt like yesterday that she had. Her hair had grown long, reaching almost to her waist. Her white bangs reaching her shoulder and nicely framing her face. It had started to curl naturally, which she liked. She sighed as she brushed it all back and tied it into a messy pony tail. Reaching into the dresser draw she pulled out an all too familiar pair of black gloves. As she pulled them on she looked at her hand. She still hadn't been able to work out why it hadn't cut when she broke that glass, she didn't even have a scratch. In fact, for someone who had been in a coma for such a long time, she was feeling particularly strong. Maybe it was just because she had been laying for so long, her body was just coping with her walking around.

She stepped outside of her room into the lounge. It was a small apartment, but it was a nice one. Remy and Betsy were sitting on the sofa talking. At the sight of Rogue, Betsy stood and left abruptly, walking quickly to her own bedroom and shutting the door.

"Was it somthin ah said?" Rogue asked, eyeing Remy curiously.

"Non cher, nothing' yu' said, - Rogue, Deres somthin Remy gotta tell yu'"

* * *

"I know you didn't tell her."

"De femme don' need t' hear it right now. Remy'll talk t' her later."

"Well you know as well as I that you have to do it. The time is up, she's awake and you know he will find her."

"Remy won' let him get t' her. De homme will 'av t' kill me b'fore he gets t' her."

"Why don't you just give up and stop hiding? Just let him have her and you can get on with your life."

Remy glared at the woman on the sofa. How could she be saying all this now? She was meant to be his friend.

"Parce que Remy Loves her."

"So you manage to hide from Essex for the rest of your life, what kind of relationship can you have with someone you cant touch? You'll end up dead. And if you can't hide from Essex and he finds you, your dead. - Either way its your funeral. Your better off finding someone who can love you and satisfy your physical needs - someone like…"

Before she could finish her sentence and Remy could say anything Rogues bedroom door opened and she stepped out. Betsy glared at the other female figure before abruptly leaving the room. Remy watched her, and then turned his gaze onto Rogue.

"Was it somthin ah said?" Rogue asked, eyeing Remy curiously.

"Non cher, nothing' yu' said, - Rogue, Deres somthin Remy gotta tell yu'"

* * *

Betsy paced her room angrily. She was so close to telling him how she felt until that bitch walked in. something had to be done, otherwise she was always going to get in the way of her and Remy. At this point she was so angry she picked up the chair in her room with her telekinesis and through it out of the window. Watching as it smashed through the glass and plummeted to the ground outside. Slowly she picked up one of the shards of glass and crossed the room to the broken window. A smile crept to her lips as a plan evolved in her mind.


	19. The Explanation: part 1

"And our next big story on NYC News: the body of Anna Marie has been stolen from the cities general hospital. Anna Marie, also know as the mutant Rogue, has been a patient at the hospital for a year now, in a coma."

"And that's a shame isn't it Sarah? I mean the girl saves the world and everything on it, and she gets put in a coma. Even worse she gets kidnapped!"

"I know Steve. Anna Marie, or Rogue if you will, im sure we all remember is the young girl who saved the world against Apocalypse at the age of 17."

"Yes and im sure that most of us are entirely thankful to her for it."

"We have Trisha now at the hospital where the body was taken."

"Thank you Steve and Sarah. Im standing here today outside NYC's general hospital where the body of Anna Marie was stolen 2 days ago. Nobody truly knows why the body has been taken, but the idea in everyone's mind is for ransom. Police and security have checked all surveillance cameras but have succeeded in finding nothing. A spokesman from the NYPD told us "There is nothing on the tapes at all. If anyone took the body they must have flown it out the window or something." I think I speak for everyone when I say, I hope she is retuned home safely and soon. That all from me, back to you in the studio."

"Thank you Trisha"

"We now go live to an appeal at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters, the home of Anna Marie."

"My name is Dr. Hank McCoy, and I am here on behalf of myself, everyone who lives in this institute, and the friends and family of Rogue. I would like to ask that whoever took the body of Rogue from the hospital, please return her to us quickly as she is in need of constant medical care. We ask this of you because we all love her very much and miss her. Also in your general safety we wish for you to know that her mutant ability is absorption. Any skin to skin contact will prove fatal to anyone, so we need her to be returned as soon as possible so we can giver her the proper care she needs. If anyone knows of any news or the whereabouts of Rogue, please contact us as soon as you possibly can, Thank you."

_BLINK _

"You truly are the prince of Thieves Mr Le'Beau" Essex spoke after turning the screen of his computer off. "Nobody even noticed until the morning after. The X Men will be everywhere looking for her. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" the man was sitting behind his desk in a dim lit room, hands poised together, his red eyes glowing behind them.

Remy stood on the other side of the room to sinister. Hands in the pockets of his heavy trench coat, shuffling his cards. He glared at the man sitting across from him from behind his dark glasses.

"Remy will do wat he has t' do" he looked down to his hands, where he was fiddling with a card, the queen of hearts. "wat dus he 'ave t' do?"

"I'm glad you asked." He stood up and walked over to a chest of drawers, pulling out a file from inside. He dropped it on his desk, "I want you to find these mutants and recruit them. All the information you need in is in that file. Bring them to me when you find them. Ill give you the next part of your task when I have all of them assembled here." He then left the room, leaving Remy alone to look through the file.

The file contained photos, facts and histories on different mutants. Some he recognised, some he did not. He flicked through the pages for several minutes before he turned to leave. In the back of his mind he knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew something was not right, but he carried on anyway. If he wanted any chance in having Rogue back then he had to do what sinister asked.

* * *

His first destination was Pennsylvania. He had spent some time tracking this mutant down, finding early on that he moved around a lot. However, he did notice that he always returned to a certain place every so often.

This certain place was a run down house. Boarded windows and doors told him that his target was slumming it. He followed his instincts and entered the house, using his thieving expertise, he left as little clues that he was there as possible behind him. The inside of the house was much the same as the outside. Cold, empty with all holes boarded up. There was no furniture and a lot of the wood work inside had been destroyed buy termites and wood rot. Clearly no one had lived here for years except for one being. In the corner of one of the rooms, Remy found a mattress. Nothing else just a mattress that was covered in blood. He felt repulsed at the sight of this, as some of the blood was clearly fresh. He decided to wait in the dark shadows of the opposite corner of the room, until his prey returned to its nest.

A few hours later, Remy heard a monstrous roar from one of the other rooms. Weakly beneath this roar he could hear the screams on a innocent woman. Remy new exactly what was going to happen, it made him feel sick to his stomach. How could he possible get along with an animal such as this? He watched as the beast threw a young woman on the bloody mattress. She was already beaten badly and bleeding heavily from her arms and head. He saw how the animal was about to attack her once more, he had to intervene.

He stepped out from his shadowed cloak, to the middle of the room. Taking out his cards, he charged them ready to attack. He watched as his opponent sniffed the air, automatically smelling something different in the air. He turned to see Remy standing behind him. Raged at this inconvenience he leapt into the air and flung himself at the new figure, claws out and ready to kill.

Remy stumbled backwards at the sight of the flying beast coming towards him. He pulled out his bo staff and prepared to fight, throwing charged cards as he did so. The creature landed directly on top of him, but he was able to push his off and quickly roll over in the opposite direction, pulling himself to his feet and throwing more charged cards. The explosions of the cards threw the animal off gaud and confused him, this gave Remy enough time to attack again. Charging his bo staff, he ran towards his prey, prying him up against the wall. His staff pushing against the neck, small charged particles clinging to the fur of the beast.

"If yu' move, yu' die" Remy said forcefully to the face in front of him. To be sure that his threat had been taken seriously he kept eye contact, while calling out behind him. "Don' Worry petite, yu' can leave, Gambit will take care o' dis monster now." listening out for the scuttling of the girl, he grinned.

"Now den Monsieur Creed-"

"Please, call me Sabertooth." he growled as he tried to break free from Remy's hold.

"Now now, don' yu' remember our petite deal? If yu' move, den Gambit gon' kill yu'." His sly cocky grin reappearing at his face. "Now if dis chat can behave 'imself, den gambit got a proposition f' yu'."

He explained to Sabertooth about Sinister, and about how he needed a strong team of mutants to carry out some jobs for him. Each of them would be rewarded fairly as long as they did what he asked.

Sabertooth scoffed. "Rewarded huh? Well you can count me out. I don't want nothing to do with you or this Sinister guy. If I wanted rewards for working in teams and following orders from some guy then I would have joined them fucking X Men kids, and it would be a bonus having them X sluts around too, yeah like that young brunette girl, or the Goth, bet she'd be pretty feisty if you know what I mean." he began to lick his lips.

Remy couldn't take it. This man/beast disgusted him so much. As soon as he commented about Rogue he was furious. Slamming him even harder into the wall, he charged Sabertooth hole body. "Comment vous oser! Now yu' will listen t' me. Yu' will work fo' Sinister, an' I don' care if yu' like it o' non. He knows t'ings 'bout yu' dat yu' don' know 'e dus, t'ings yu' prolly don wan' anyone else finding' out 'bout, oui?"

The two mutants stood face to face, neither one taking their eyes off the other. Creed, scared that Remy's threats were true, tried not to give away his fear. Remy, so furious with Sabertooth, inside was begging him to attack so he could blow him up into tiny pieces, never having to deal with him again.

"Fine."

After a moment, Remy backed down. He didn't entirely trust the man, but now he was in Sinister's hands.

"Bien. Take dis." he said passing Sabertooth a card. "yu' mus' mee' Gambit 'ere at 7:30 on Friday." Slowly he backed away, placing his cards back into his pocked and de charging his bo staff. With a final bow he turned to leave. "Au revoir Monsieur."

* * *

Remy stood outside a large warehouse. Inside he would find his next target for Sinister. He looked down at the photo and information in his hand. Folding it away he placed it securely in the inside pocket of his trench coat, and at the same time pulled out his bo staff. He climbed the steps into the large building, listening out carefully for any noises of attack.

Inside, the warehouse was empty apart from the odd pile of boxes here and there. Remy moved around the outside of the hall stealthily, careful not to give away his position to anyone inside. He was walking and looking around the hall until suddenly he was thrown into the middle of the room by an enormous gust of wind. Quickly he picked himself up, holding his bo staff in front of him, circling it around his fingers like a propeller or an aeroplane. Slowly he brought it to a stop, holding his other arm out to keep hi balance. He closed his eyes, his 'thieves initiative' coming back to him. Suddenly he heard a whipping in the air around him, spinning round quickly he used his staff to reflect a blade that was shot straight at him. Spinning around again, he swiftly moved his body down into a crouching position, dodging a blade that span closely past his head. Looking around the room he could see dust and leaves from the floor being rushed around in a spiral of air as something, moving very fast, sped around the floor. He noticed it moving only around the outside of the hall, the same path he himself had taken only a few moments ago.

Remy stood up and smiled. He did enjoy a game, especially ones as risky as this.

"Lets make t'ings interesting' non? If Gambit 'ere can survive 50 o' yu' blades, den yu' come work fo' Mister Sinister, if he don' - den Gambit be dead an 'e can' do not'in t' stop yu."

He stood in he position waiting for an affirmative from his opponent. It came to him quickly and smoothly in the form of a blade spinning sharply through the air. Remy was caught off gaud and the blade span straight through the outside of his arm, ripping blood out of him on its exit. He clenched his arm and fell down to the ground where he rested on one knee. Looking up he grinned. "Gambit takes' dat as a oui den." he grinned and stood up. This time he was back on gaud and ready for anything that flew at him. He found himself spinning and gliding around on his one spot in the middle of the hall, beating away the blades that flew at him with his bo staff. Careful not to loose track of where he was and where the blades were coming from, he managed to keep count in his head of how many he had hit. True to the game, when he knocked back the 50th blade, they stopped coming at him. Remy stood, bo staff out just in case. The wind around the outside of the hall had stopped and a figure had begun to walk towards him, arm stretched out. He was tall and skinny with white hair that fell past his shoulders.

"So, who's this Sinister bloke then?" he asked smiling at his new team mate.

Remy grinned and shook the mans hand. "'e be a very powerful man an' 'e be interested in yu'." he let go and proceeded to place his bo staff back in his pocket. "De name be Gambit."

"Riptide." He answered, "You got some pretty decent skills out there."

The two men proceeded to exit the hall as Remy told Riptide about Sinister's proposition.

* * *

The next destination for Remy was a small bar in New York. He knew it well as a bar that many mutants went to drown their sorrows in alcohol. He walked in and was immediately welcomed by a dusky room of smoke and a strong smell of beer and spirits. He sat himself at the bar and ordered a large Bourbon, looking around the room he found the one he was looking for. Blinking closely at the table he sat at, he rummaged through his coat pocket and found his papers. Checking the photo and paper he was sure he had found the one he was looking for, however, in a stroke of luck, he found another he was looking for, sitting at the same table.

The two men sat at a large table. Each of them the size of a mutant Remy remembered as Juggernaut. He watched as the men sat and talked for a long while. He believed, that with them both being together, this task would be the hardest of them all. After 4 very long swallowed bourbons, Remy finally thought it time to make his move. He stood up and began to move across the bar, until he was rudely interrupted by a rock that had been thrown through the window. He looked in the direction it had come to see a crowed of men with fire torches and guns, shouting at the "Mutant Scum" in the bar. Many of the people in the bar had fled out the back way, while few had stayed in the bar to fight. Remy was one of them, and was glad to see the other three men had stayed too.

"Mutant Scum!"

"You shouldn't even be on this planet! None of you deserve to live!"

Remy Picked up a nearby bar stool, charged it and threw it out the window, where the rock had come from. The explosion sent a trend through everyone in the par, and they all started attacking the mutant hating group of humans outside.

Remy watched as the two men banded together in attack. The first picking up and bar stool and a couple of glasses. Remy watched as the man created a large weapon that he used to attack the humans only out of these few materials. Moving outside he watched as this mutant sent the men flying in different direction, into busy roads and through brick walls, almost certainly killing each one he threw. The other had a very similar power to himself. He watched as the other man raised a spear, an energy charged spear, and threw it out to the men on the street. He watched as instead of it exploding and knocking everyone off their feet, everyone nearby was stunned and paralysed. He smiled as he began to charge nearby objects and throw them, this would be his 'in'.

After the fight with the mutant haters, everyone in the bar began to put things back to normal and get on with their drinking. The bar, now much more empty than before, began to fill with smoke once more as the low murmurs of convocation continued.

"yu' powers Monsieur, dey be very similar t' mine non?" Remy asked as he invited himself to the table where the two men sat.

"Yeah so?" the gruff man asked, obviously not interested in the convocation and slightly bemused by the cunjan actions.

"Well, Gambit jus' be wonderin' 'ow yu' gained controll over dem?" he grinned at the look on the other mans face. "Would' 'av anything' t' do with a certain Mister Sinister would it?"

The other mans mouth opened and closed repeatedly. He couldn't find anything to say.

He looked over at the other man on the table, he was looking back and fourth between Remy and his friend. "An yu' too. Gambit don' know yu' story but 'e know it got sommat t' do with Sinister too."

The two men bowed their heads. "We knew this day would come." one sighed heavily. "My name is Harpoon and this is Scalphunter."

Remy grinned, this mission was turning out to be much easier than he thought.

* * *

Doors looked over him as he stood outside. The grass behind him was perfectly cut and the perfect shade of green, the walls were tall and perfectly orange. The doors in front of his were perfectly white. Everything was disgustingly perfect. He lifted his hand and rang the bell beside the door. He was soon greeted by a young woman, dressed in a blue and white dress. She smiled and opened the door wider, allowing Remy to enter. He walked into the building and was faced with a long corridor ahead of him. The young woman smiled and gestured for him to follow her. She lead him up a staircase and down two corridors, where she brought him so a room. The room had a door, a huge heavy door, painted white with bars at the window. There was a slot In the middle of it, Remy noticed it was for passing food through.

"Why is she in 'ere?"

"She is a danger to the other patients, we can not allow her out of this room. She has everything she needs in there or given to her."

"Why is de femme a danger? Because she is a mutant?"

"Yes because she is a mutant, but not because we are afraid of mutants, but because her powers are a threat to the others and ourselves."

Remy stood for a moment and looked at the door. The woman opened the pass way so he could look inside at the inhabitant. Its was a young woman, sitting in the floor, knees up to her chest and head bowed down. He sighed as the woman closed the pass way.

"Would you like to go inside?"

"oui"

The woman pulled out a chain of keys, flicking through each one she came to a long silver one, pushing it into the hole she turned it until she heard the click. She pulled the heavy door towards her, slowly. The girl inside didn't move, not even a flinch.

"We have a visitor for you" said the woman, hopeful to get a reaction out of the young woman. "Aren't you going to say hello?"

Remy shook his head at the woman. "looks like Gambit gone' be doin' all de talkin' today eh' petite?" he smiled at the woman as he walked into the cell. She closed the door behind him.

"Vertigo oui?" he asked as he bent down and sat on n the floor next to the woman. "Mon name is Gambit." the girl lifted her head to look at him. "You wan' t' see a magic trick?" he asked as he pulled out one of his playing cards. It was the King of Diamonds. "He be a very rich man non?" he joked as he charged it, slowly watching it burn away to a crisp.

"Im not crazy." she stated firmly.

Remy blinked.

"Im not. I just drive everyone else mad. Id screw your mind up right now if I didn't have this fucking brace on" she said, pulling up the leg of her trousers' to reveal a black mechanical ban around her ankle. "It stops my powers from working. - That's what's driving me crazy!" she shouted out whilst hitting the walls. She stood up and walked to the door, hitting the bars. Now Remy could get a proper look at her. She was tall and thin, standing around 5"9. She had long green hair that reached her lower back. She turned around and slammed her back against the wall, sliding to the floor she returned to her crouched position with her knees up to her chest.

"So is dat yu' power den? Drivin' people mad?" Remy asked, trying to build some trust with the woman. He had already seen her true power, but didn't want to give away the fact that he knew.

"Not exactly, it depends how long I attack you for. I project a mind field that screws peoples minds up. Ill make you dizzy, ill make you sick. Ill drive you insane." she stated coldly. "BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN IM THE ONE WHO IS INSANE!" she screamed out.

"Do yu' want t' get out o' 'ere?" Remy asked almost sarcastically but sincerely at the same time.

"Why would I want to do that? I love it here." she replied in full sarcasm.

"Gambit has a friend, he t'inks yu' know 'im."

"Why do you talk like that?" she asked, genuinely curious. Remy just shrugged, all the time grinning at her curiosity. "So, who is your friend?"

"Goes by de name o' Sinister."

She grinned. "Oh yes, he's a very close friend of mine."

"Well 'e sent Gambit 'ere to get yu' out o' dis place."

Her grin grew even wider. Standing on her feet she held her hand out to him, pulling him onto his feet too so they were both standing.

"come on then handsome" she said running a finger down his chest. "show me what you can do."

Remy, at this point feeling quite uncomfortable, moved her hand away from him and walked over to the door. Placing one finger on it, it began to glow vibrantly. "yu' better stand back." he said, moving away from the door. There was an almighty crash as the door exploded off the wall, leaving a giant hole in the wall. Running out Remy grabbed one of the nurses. "where is de key fo' her brace?" he asked coolly. The nurse was shaking terribly, as she crouched down and pushed a code into the ankle brace. Almost immediately it fell off to the ground. Vertigo, now free from her captivity, grinned in excitement. "You want to see what I can do?" she asked Remy, as he bent down and picked up the open brace, pocketing it straight away. He grinned at his new friend. "Be my guest."

Almost instantly, everyone in the asylum buckled to their knees, crying in pain. Many were screaming, some were throwing up and some just past out on the floor. Happy with herself and having her power back, Vertigo happily skipped off down the corridor to the exit. Remy couldn't help but feel guilty for the other patients, but also couldn't help but smile.


	20. The Explanation: part 2

Remy sloshed his way down the tunnel, pulling as his soaking trench coat tugged behind him as it grew heavy. His mind was only set on one thing. The sooner he got this over with the sooner he could save Rogue. He glanced over his shoulder, to see the rest of his team mates. Staggering along, all kept to their own thoughts. It was strange that Sinister wanted these particular mutants to help him, the mission didn't sound that complicated, in fact he could do it alone. After all he is the king of thieves, steeling things was a pass time for him. He looked back ahead and went back to his thoughts. He reminded himself to what happened five minutes ago. That poor girl, she didn't need to be killed. He was angry at Sabertooth for doing it, she didn't even know they were following her, she could have gotten away, she wasn't needed. He sighed.

He heard a grunt come from behind him and looked up ahead. He could see shadows dancing around the walls on the tunnels. They were getting close. They reached the end of the sewage way and stopped. Remy turned to see 5 faces grinning at him. It had been a while since these guys had seen some action. They had been waiting for an event like this one.

"remember, we g' in, we get de kid, an we ge' oui'. dere be no nee' fo' fuss." He Stated to his crew. There was no need for this to be a blood bath.

Oh how wrong he was.

They rounded the corner and came face to face with a congress of underground mutants. He scanned the room quickly looking for the boy. He failed to pull him out of the crowed, so he opted for a negotiation, plunging his hand into his pockets he found his cards. Suddenly there was a huge roar and the body of Sabertooth lunged over Remy's head, followed by many spinning shears from Riptide. Remy ducked down to the ground, instinct taking over him. He watched as the Morlocks began to fall one by one, screaming in pain. Blood pouring from everywhere, bodies being flung from one end of the tunnel to the other. He ducked quickly as rocks formed by one of the Morlocks were flung at him. He had to get out of there quickly, this wasn't supposed to happen. He pulled out his bo staff and charged it, making a run for a small hole in the wall, he beat anything that got in his way, rocks, spikes, bones, bodies, anything. He pulled himself into the hole in the wall, covering his back to make sure no one was behind him ready to attack. He watched as Riptide, Vertigo, Sabertooth, Harpoon and Scalphunter charged at the helpless flock of mutants and slaughtered them one by one. He felt a wrench in his stomach as he thought of Sinister using him for this. He turned away from the carnage in front of him and headed to safety.

* * *

"Why de hell did y' 'av to kill all dem innocent people!?" Remy cried as he stormed back into Sinister's office, Trudging muddy foot prints around the floor from the sewer tunnels.

Sinister looked up from his desk, eyes glowing, a smile appearing on his thin and bony face. "Mutants Gambit, not People" he spat. He stood from his desk, picked up a chart and proceeded to a second door in the room. "you must remember that there is a difference between the two."

Remy followed him through the door, into a long corridor, lit with bright white lights. "dere be no difference 'tween Remy and dem! Why did y' do it!?"

"They were insignificant, rodents among us. They were a species of mutants that no one would ever miss. Besides, they will prove to be valuable… lab rats." he grinned as he stopped at another door along their path. After typing in a code to the security lock, the door clicked and opened. The two men entered an observation room, looking out on a medical room. In the middle of the room lay Rogue, sleeping peacefully. She had no tubes or machines around her, she was by herself covered by only a single white sheet.

Remy scowled at the comment made by Sinister, but at the sight of his love before him, he forgot the anger and hate within him. He remembered why he was working for this mad man in the first place. To save Rogue. "Why didn' yu' tell Remy wha' was really 'appenin'?" he questioned.

"I couldn't afford for you to fail me my boy. Your emotions tend to get the better of you, I know that if I had asked to kill those mutants, you would have said no."

He was right, Remy would have said no. But what else could he have done? Sinister had Rogue, if he wanted her back he would have had to kill them all anyway.

"Yes you would have" Sinister answered the unasked question in Remy's head. "But I still couldn't trust that you wouldn't have found away to get her back, away from me." he grinned. He pulled on a pair of white gloves and made his way into the medical room. Remy stood still in the observation room and watched him. "She is such an interesting subject, one I would indulge in experimenting on. To have the power to take others abilities and memories … she would prove to be a successful weapon against anyone." he admired the body in front of him.

Remy shook where he stood. He hated the way he looked at her, like love, but in a wrong way. He hated to think what was going through sinister mind when he looked at her.

"don' forge' yu'r end of de bargain Sinister, yu' gott' wake de femme up."

Sinister looked up, suddenly shunted out of his trance. He smiled at Remy's demand. He slowly moved over to an intercom on the right side of the room. "Bring her in" he commanded. Within the space of 3 seconds, the double doors on the left of the room swung open, 3 men pulling a trolly bed with another woman laying unconscious upon it. They brought out machines, needles and tubes, connecting them to each of the women.

Remy shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know what was happening. He watched the men bustle about the room, plugging things in and jotting stuff down on charts. He looked towards the other woman. She was blonde with fair skin and looked to be late 20's early 30's. She was strapped down to the bed with heavy belts, holding her arms and feet.

After the men had finished preparing, they drew the two women together. One of the men took the ankle brace, the one Remy took from the clinic after helping vertigo escape, off the side surface and placed it on the blonde woman's leg. Once it was fixed on, a second man drew a large needle from a tray and pierced her skin, then taking a second needle he did the same to Rogue. He watched as the liquid inside the small plastic tube was forced into their bodies, and let loose to flow freely. After jotting more things down on charts, and looking a the machines, that had begun to beep much quicker now, they removed the brace from the blonde woman. Then they took her hand and placed it on Rogues bare skin. The two women suddenly emerged from slumber, Screams so high were drawn out from within them, screeches so unbearable, like nails on a blackboard. Remy buckled at the sight and sound, but could not manage to take his eyes off of Rogue. Colour and life seemed to merge back into her recently lifeless body. But for the other woman, the opposite happened. Her body became limp and lifeless. Her veins were bulging through her skin, blue colour emerging and taking the tan skin colour away. Her eyes started to sink and her face started to age dramatically. Slowly the life was drained from her body, and it sounded painful.

Remy winced as he heard one last cry from the blonde woman, before she finally gave the entity of her life up. Rouge however took a deep, sharp breath. The life in her was back but it wasn't her. Remy looked into her eyes and saw only electric blue eyes. Full of fear and pain. She blinked a few times as she allowed herself to get used to the bright lights, after all she had had her eyes closed for so long now.

After a moment she collapsed back onto the bed and fell back into a seemingly deep slumber, but something was different. The machines that kept an eye on her heat rate, her breathing, her vitals etcetera, become more lively. They were beeping faster making more noises than usual.

"Wh'a dem t'ings beepin s'loudly fo?" Remy asked in distress.

"She has finally come back to the world of the living Remy. Now we wait. Soon though she will be awake, but for now she needs to rest and gain some energy."

"Rest!? Bu' de femme bin restin' fo' almos' 2 year now!"

"and will do so for a few more days" the statement was clear and final. Remy did not argue back, instead he watched as the other men wheeled the two women's bodies out of the room. He followed the bed that carried Rouge down a different corridor and to another room. It was a different room to what she was normally in, this one looked a bit more normal than the other, giving her a window and pink walls, instead of the room that was pure white with four solid walls.

He smiled as he looked at his sleeping angel. Soon she would be back in his arms, he southern belle full of feisty passion. He had missed her so much. But there was still something that troubled him. He gave one last check before he left her room and set out looking for sinister.

"Wha' will' 'appen wen de femme wakes up?" Remy asked curiously.

"What do you mean by that Gambit?" sinister looked back at him, more worried than anything else.

"Well, will she 'av control o' her powers? Will she b' able t' touch? Or will she b' de same as she use' t' b'?"

"She will most likely be the same mutant she used to be. Our deal, if you remember, was only for me to wake her up, nothing else. But, if you want, I could keep her here longer, try to help her gain control." Sinister looked at the Cajun full of hope, his trademark evil grin spread across his features. The idea of keeping his test subject for longer was far too tempting to give up.

Remy studied the mans emotions and body language. Something was not right nd it scared him. "Non, dat be fine, Remy don' need you' t' do' not'in else." he said as he turned on his heal and headed out of the room. As soon as he reached past the doors of the room he began to run back to her room as fast as he could. When he got there he tore out all the wires and tubes that were attached to her.

Meanwhile, Sinister ran to the phone that hung on the operating room wall. "Don't let them get away. I want that girl here locked up and unharmed, do what you like to the other one, I no longer have a need for him."

Alarms began to ring throughout the facility as men in white uniforms all ran towards her room. Some went in with strength, others decided their best bet was with weapons. When they go there they found the tall man with the girl flung over his shoulders. He had picked up some needles and charged them, then threw them at the men. He turned on his heal and jumped out of the window as the explosion took place back in the room, taking out most of the men.

The window Remy jumped out of was on the second floor, giving him a long way to fall with Rouge on his shoulder. He landed as graceful as he could with as little impact on the girl. He looked around as he saw men charging from left and right. He saw a woodland area in the distance and decided to run for it. At least it would give them someplace to hide.

After 10 minutes of running in the woods, Remy had to stop and rest. He found a large tree and climbed it, placing Rouge on his lap as they rested on a large branch. Down below he could hear the shouts of men who were looking for them. He decided that they would stay there until the men had given up looking for them.

Inside Remy felt so stupid for even letting Sinister look at her. He thought back on all the things that had happened over the past 2 years and how much he had regretted it. But if Sinister was right and Rouge would wake up in a few days, then maybe it was worth it after all. All he had to think about now was how would he escape.


	21. What Does She Feel? Jealousy

Rouge sat there dumb struck. She didn't know how to react to everything Remy had just told her. The idea that she had missed out on two years of her life was bad enough, but hearing about all the things she had put Remy through was even worse. She felt awful about the things she caused to happen, yet at the same time she felt sick to the stomach, at the idea of what Sinister had made Remy do. The death of all those other mutants, all those defenceless mutants, happened because of her, because Remy would do anything to have her back.

She stood and walked over to the window, staring at the people below in the street.

"so,ya' tellin' meh tha' we're in hidin', from wha' ah can only imagine is a lunatic, who wants meh foh crazy science experiments?" she asked bluntly to the man still sitting on the other side of the room.

"oui" he answered.

"an' no one knows where ah am, no' even tha X men?"

"oui"

"an ya'll were tricked in'ta massacring loads of helpless mutants?"

"oui "

she said nothing. Her head was spinning with the things she had just learnt. She was gradually getting over the things she had learnt from Remy, about the things he had done, the things that had changed and the fact that she had disappeared off the face of the earth according to everyone else and the rest of the X men. The things that troubled her now were the things that no one knew. Remy had seen the experiment that Sinister had performed in front of him with the woman, draining her life into Rouges. The thing was that Rouge couldn't feel her presence in her head like she usually could when she absorbed another being. This scared her. What exactly had sinister done, and who was the other woman? Not only that, but what else had sinister done to her when Remy wasn't around. Had she been forced to absorb other people without anyone else knowledge? How far had Sinister gone? Had she killed people without knowing it?

All these questions were flying around her head, making it spin out of control. She couldn't take it anymore and began to feel dizzy. She took deep breaths to try and calm herself down but was unsuccessful. Everything went black.

* * *

He watched as she crossed the room to the window, her long figure stepped gracefully across the large apartment. He knew it was going to be hard for her to hear everything, but he had to tell her. He watched as she gazed out of the window, unable to think of anything to say. He ran his hand through his hair and released a big sigh.

"so,ya' tellin' meh tha' we're in hidin', from wha' ah can only imagine is a lunatic, who wants meh foh crazy science experiments?"

"oui" he answered. There was no explanation needed at this point. She knew all the facts, clearly she just wanted to clarify them. However he still couldn't help but drop his head to the ground again and remember that everything was his fault.

"an' no one knows where ah am, no' even tha X men?"

"oui"

"an ya'll were tricked in'ta massacring loads of helpless mutants?"

"oui "

The last question flicked through his mind. He was glad that she acknowledged that he was tricked into doing it. Perhaps she wouldn't think so badly of him, but who was he kidding? The blood was clearly on his hands and there was nothing he could do. He prayed silently that she wouldn't find him unbearable. He needed her to forgive him for his wrong doings.

_Mon dieu dis' is hard. What coul' de femme b' t'inkin? Remy onl' jus' got 'er back, don' let her 'ate him fo' what he did. _

He watched her closely. She didn't make a single movement for quite a while, until she suddenly became limp. He could hear her breathing getting heavy, noting the problem he swiftly moved across the room as quickly as he could, getting to her just in time as she fainted in his arms.

He lifted her up and placed her comfortably back on her bed, careful not to touch her bare skin on his. It had been a long day for the both of them. He decided it would be best to let her sleep it off, and quietly crept out of her room. He walked out of the apartment, grabbing his trench coat on the way. When he reached the street he took out a cigarette and lit it with a touch of his finger. Breathing in the smoke, he let out a deep breath and cleared his head. Now all he had to do was wait.

* * *

She saw him sitting on the steps outside their apartment from the window, looking run down and worried. Softly she stepped out of her room and out to meet him. She couldn't help but think about how wonderful he was, doing all kinds of things for the girl he loved, good and bad. It made her smile. He was a true prince charming in her eyes. As she walked down the stairs to the ground floor, she thought about when they first met in the alleyway. That was the day that changed her life, the day her life really began. She opened the door onto the windy street and walked down to the bottom of the steps. Placing her arms around his chest, she gave him an intense hug. At first he tensed up at the shock of someone holding him, but he soon relaxed when he realised who it was.

"yu' shouldn' sneek up on ol' Remy like dat petite" he said taking another drag of his cigarette.

"sorry" she smiled. Slowly she let go and moved to his side. "how you feelin?" she watched his face scrunch up as he thought about the day.

"t' be honest, Remy not feelin' too bien"

To her he looked so sad and vulnerable as he took one last drag and flick the butt away. His strong muscular features tensed as he moved to stand up.

"Remy t'ink he'll take a walk" he said as he left her side and moved along the pavement into the distance. "can yu' jus' watch over 'er fo' Remy?" he asked with his sad face.

Betsy nodded, only wanting to hold him in her arms. She hated the other girl for putting him through this, for making him do all those horrible things. She sighed and made her way back up to the room. He would be much better off with her. She walked into the apartment abruptly, slamming the door shut behind her. Stomping over to Rouges room she opened the door to see the other woman sleeping in her bed.

"soon" she stated quietly to herself, before closing the door and returning to the living room to watch TV. She put on an action film, turning the volume up quite loudly to make Rouges sleep as restless as she could.

* * *

**Come on, how many peple thought the last section was in Rouges P.O.V? **

**it's been a while since i last updated, and for this i apologise. but when i was reading the story i found so many mistakes! my word program seemed to change the spelling of many words! so iv been goin through and changing them all back to how they are supposed to be :) **

**i promise this story is going somewhere, but i dont know wherever its worth completeing... let me know if i should or not :)**


	22. Left Alone To Think

The cool air was a relief on her body as she sat alone on her balcony. The last few days had been such a shock to her that she hadn't really had any time to process it all. The last thing she remembered before waking up was her battle against apocalypse.

She looked out onto the street before her. She must have won because people were out, living their lives happily.

Before that was the fight she had with Remy in the kitchen at the X mansion. She thought about the horrible things she had said about him being a killer. But that's what he was. A murderer. He had killed Julian on his wedding day and he had killed all those mutants in the tunnel. No wait he hadn't killed anyone in the tunnels. He ran. He was tricked into doing it. He was tricked into that fight just like he was tricked into the fight with Julian. Remy wasn't a bad person, he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She felt her heart pound against her chest as she thought about the life her Cajun had lived. She couldn't help but feel the strongest, saddest sensation overwhelm her when she did. She wished that something good would happen to him, something to make his life great for a change. She wished it could be her.

Sighing, Rouge looked at her pale hands, free from the leather encasing they were usually trapped under. She would never be able to give him what he wanted, all because of her poisonous skin. She couldn't help but think back to when she broke the glass and cut herself. The glass had smashed so easily at her fingertips, and her skin hadn't even been split. Before she had put it down to feeling so weak that she had forgotten how strong she really was, after all she had been asleep for 2 years. But still there was something that didn't feel right about her. What had Sinister done to her in his lab? It scared her to think about what could have happened so she decided not to. The idea of not knowing was better than knowing, and guessing would only make things worse.

A strong gust of wind ran past her, making her hair fly around her face uncontrollably. She brought her legs up to her chest to try and arm herself against the chill of the night air. Remy and Betsy were both asleep in their rooms, giving her the space she needed so much. Her mind wondered back to Remy. He had done so much to try and save her, but she couldn't work out why. She didn't deserve it after the things she had said to him that night in the kitchen. She didn't deserve him, and he most definitely didn't deserve her. He needed someone who could love him properly, and physically be there when he needed. She could do none of that. She could never be in a relationship with anyone. She was destined to be alone for the rest of her life. Even if Remy couldn't see it now, he would eventually.

'_Maybe you should just end it now'_

Rouge sat up straight. Where had that come from.

'_Poor Rouge, no one will ever be able to love you, maybe you were better off in your coma'_

She clenched her eyes closed, trying to find the source of these thought. She tried to see if it was someone she had absorbed in the past, but she was unable to find anyone. The thoughts must be her own.

'_The two years you were gone for must have been so great for everyone. Think about it. When people realised you wren going to wake up they left and got on with their lives. All the X men are probably happy now you're gone. No one to watch out for in case you suck the life out of them accidentally.'_

Rouge could feel her eyes welling up with tears. The thoughts were making sense. It's the only reason the X Men left her, because they could finally be rid of her.

'_And think about poor old Remy. His life would be much better if you weren't around. He wouldn't have gone through all that pain and torture if he hadn't of felt like he had to save you. He would have found someone else by now, someone better who could really love him like he deserves'_

"It's true" she said out loud. She thought back to the day on the roof of the mansion, where Remy had stopped her from jumping off. If she had just ended it then, everything would have been fine. Apocalypse wouldn't have been able to use her to gain all that power, Remy wouldn't have had to be involved with Sinister and the Mutants in the tunnel would still be alive.

Life would be better for everyone if she wasn't there.

Slowly she got to her feet and stood at the end of her balcony. She climbed the railing and stretched her arms out wide, allowing the wind to take her in its stride. At first the fall was bliss, until she opened her eyes. She couldn't help but feel selfish for a split second at her own decision. She could hear a scream above her but didn't know where it was coming from. She ignored it and closed her eyes as she waited for the earth to meet her.


End file.
